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WILLIAM I 

Proclaimed emperor at Versailles in 1870—During the May 
revolution when Prince of Prussia he was forced to 
flee to England 


The Secrets of the 
Hohenzollerns 


BY 

DR. ARMGAARD KARL GRAVES 

Author of “The Secrets of the German War Office.” 


NEW YORK 

McBRIDE, NAST & COMPANY 
1915 


Copyright, 1915, by 
McBride, Nast & Co. 


Published* June, 1915 


A** 

JtIN 22 1915 

©C1.A406432 


iu i 




FOREWORD 


You say, “This is fiction.” 

I say it is not. 

You say that I lie. 

I say I do not. 

Quien Sabef 

My first book, “The Secrets of the German 
War Office,” has been the target of much criti¬ 
cism. Some of the criticisms I appreciated and 
found more or less justified. Others, were too 
ill-informed and contemptible to represent even a 
casual judgment of the facts. 

It appears that the purchase of a book entitles 
the buyer to criticize; be it so. Some unofficial 
representatives of governments, notably the Ger¬ 
man, have seen fit to attack me in their usual un¬ 
derhanded way. I understand their necessity 
for so doing. Also, I expected this, for I have 
been long enough in their employ to know the 
“wherefore” and the “why.” I have made no 
answers to these attacks, for I hold, with the 
sages of old, that too strenuous a denial is the nat¬ 
ural act of a guilty conscience. I do not ask for 
sympathy or tolerance, for neither has ever been 
mine, besides I can do very well without them. 


Foreword 


My veracity and morals have been, and will be 
doubted; well, that is my concern. 

One thing I never have been, and that is a cow¬ 
ard. I have taken the Persian Satrap’s advice 
to his son: 

“My Son, if bad luck does pursue thee, 

Yield not, though in courage you lack; 

A fighter goes scathless through battle 
When a coward is shot in the back.” 

Graves. 



CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I The Message . i 

II The New Regime. 8 

III Dropping the Pilot. 23 

IV The Stormy Petrel..49 

V The Trouble Makers. 77 

VI The Master Hand.99 

VII The Count of Hoheneck. 116 

VIII England's Menace. 142 

IX Fine and Edged Tools.163 

X Jumbled Interests.180 

XI The Brewing Storm.205 

XII The Unaccounted Factor.228 

XIII The Answer.242 

XIV Via Victis .......... 247 





















THE ILLUSTRATIONS 


William I. Frontispiece 

FACING 

PAGE 

Emperor Frederick III .io 

Empress Frederick III and the Present Kaiser . . 16 

The Iron Chancellor.24 

" Dropping the Pilot ”.34 

Chancellor von Hohenlohe-Schillingsfuerst ... 44 

Enver Bey.62 

Gregori Rasputin, the Dictator Monk .... 80 

Frederick William, Crown Prince .... . 92 

Theophile Delcasse.118 

William II at 19.130 

William II at 23.164 

A church ceremonial at Tsarskol Selo . . . .210 

Prince von Buelow.222 

Belgian Government mobilization map .... 248 





































i 





* 











PUBLISHERS’ NOTE 


In order to consolidate into a consecutive nar¬ 
rative the varied events in which the present 
two generations of the Hohenzollerns have taken 
part, the author has adopted the name of Ber¬ 
tram von Ehrenkrug. Under this pseudonym he 
is able to relate not only his own experiences but 
those of secret service agents who were working 
with him. The bulk of the missions, however, 
were undertaken solely by the author. 


0 









The Secrets of the 
H ohenzollerns 


CHAPTER I 

THE MESSAGE 

Explanatory Note.—Whenever a King of Prussia 
lies on his death bed there is handed to his successor a 
small, time-scarred black ebony box, nine inches long 
by four inches wide . This box is sent immediately 
after the demise of the reigning King to the hereditary 
Truchsess of the Kingdom, who acknowledges its re¬ 
ceipt by returning one of the only two existing keys to 
the secret royal archives. In these archives, accessible 
only to the King, the Truchsess and the Reichs Chan¬ 
cellor, are stored the innermost secrets of the Royal 
House and the Empire. Although officially the keeper 
of the King's secrets is never en evidence, unofficially 
and unobtrusively he wields a tremendous power, much 
as did in the olden days the keeper of the King's con- 
science. 

I N the heart of the Mark of Brandenburg, 
called “The Streusand-Biichse” of Prussia, 
about fifty miles from Berlin, in the midst of 

i 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


one of the magnificently, well-cared-for Prus¬ 
sian domain forests, stands the hereditary castle 
of the Freiherren von Ehrenkrug. This strong¬ 
hold is the seat of the Koenigliche Oberfoer- 
sterei, the officially known position of the Mas¬ 
ters of Ehrenkrug, and the only one known to 
ninety-nine out of every hundred of their fellow 
men. To the remaining few, Derer von Ehren¬ 
krug are of vastly greater significance. Since 
the days of the accession of the first Markgraf 
of Brandenburg, the House of Ehrenkrug has 
been closely identified with the aims, ambitions 
and successes of their Liege Lords of Hohen- 
zollern. Even prior to this time, they were 
Reichsgraven and Truchsesses 1 in the old Ger¬ 
man Empire. They were kingmakers in the 
truest sense of the word. 

Grim and silent, surrounded by historic oak 
and fir trees, stood the ancient castle of Ehren¬ 
krug. On the night of June 15, 1888, a drizzling 
rain was falling upon the battle-scarred walls. 

Grim and silent, swaying in the chilling blasts, 
stood the countless majestic trees like an outer 
guard, as if aware of portentous events. 

1 Truchsess literally means “sitting on the coffer.” It is a 
medieval title of the most trusted official of the old Saxon kings 
and early German emperors. 


2 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


Grim and silent, human sentinels, clad in the 
dark green and silver uniform of the Prussian 
Royal Foresters, were guarding the passage to 
the big oak-paneled refectory of the castle. 

Around a solid wine-stained oak table were 
seated six men, reclining in deep leather cush¬ 
ioned arm chairs, their faces fitfully illuminated 
by a crackling log fire burning in a huge, brass- 
bound hearth. At the head of the table was a 
commanding figure, tall, six feet two in his 
stockings, wide of shoulder and deep of chest, 
with the traditional bearing and carriage of a 
Prussian officer; the big massive head framed 
with deep gold hair and beard, slightly streaked 
with gray; keen steel blue, clear eyes, set wide 
apart. Truly, a magnificent type of the Teuton, 
this, Wolfgang von Ehrenkrug, head of his 
house! 

At his right sat an equally tall but more slen¬ 
der man, his South Germanic origin clearly in¬ 
dicated in his dark hair and eyes. Clean shaven, 
with thin-lipped, closely compressed mouth and 
high forehead, his severely intellectual, almost 
clerical aspect, easily stamped him for what he 
was—the Minister Plenipotentiary of the Ba¬ 
varian court, Graf von P-. To the left was 

3 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

seated a short, stockily built, almost rubicund 
gentleman, whom one, even without glancing at 
his canonicals, or without looking at the gold 
cross suspended from his neck, or the big blood- 
red, gleaming carbuncle on the third finger of his 
right hand, would have pronounced a dignitary 
of the Church. And such he was, the Prince 
Bishop of Mayence. 

Seated in the other chairs were three high 
officials of the German Empire. All their faces 
reflected deep, earnest, almost solemn thoughts. 
No one had uttered a word since they had been 
ushered into the hall by equally silent retainers, 
an hour before midnight. Only von Ehrenkrug, 
the head of the table, cast frequent glances at 
the big, dully-ticking Wanduhr. It struck the 
hour of twelve. Almost simultaneously the door 
opened and a somber-clad, gray-haired servant 
walked up to his master, and saluting, said in a 
trembling voice, “Gnadiger, Herr, the messenger 
has come.” Deep emotion was reflected in von 
Ehrenkrug’s face and voice, as he arose, he 
placed his hand on the old servant’s shoulder: 

“It had to come, Herman.” 

Quietly sobbing, the servant retired from the 
circle of men and took his place in the back 
4 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

of the room. Turning to the others present, the 
Master, in his low, deep voice, said: 

“Gentlemen, is it your pleasure to have the 
messenger sent in ?” A silent nod was their an¬ 
swer. The watching servant, receiving the sign, 
almost immediately returned with the messenger, 
an officer of the Royal Household. All had 
arisen. Walking straight up to the Freiherr, the 
officer saluted, and handing him a small black 
ebony box, said at the same time: 

“Der Kaiser ist todt.” (The Emperor is 
dead.) 

Although everyone in the room had expected 
this message for hours, all were visibly affected. 
The Freiherr had drawn from his closely but¬ 
toned coat a thick black silk ribbon, on which 
were suspended two curiously wrought silver 
keys, one of which he handed to the messenger, 
who, saluting, left. The door closed, the Frei¬ 
herr turned to his waiting companions, saying: 

“It behooves us to do our duty. Follow me.” 

Opening a door at the farther end of the hall 
he led them down a flight of narrow, stone stairs 
into the keep of the castle. 

There in the flickering candlelight the six men 
gathered about a time-marred, brass-bound, cedar 
5 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


and sandalwood catafalque wrought with curious 
Sanscrit designs. Reverent and noiseless their 
movements. This was the catafalque in which 
was borne back to his home in 1040 the founder 
of the House of Ehrenkrug who had perished dur¬ 
ing the Crusades in a valiant attempt to save 
Wolfram of Heckingen, one of the noble ances¬ 
tors of the Hohenzollerns. Ever since that day 
this coffin has been the repository for the most 
important documents of Elouse and State. 

Inserting a key into the ancient lock, Wolfgang 
von Ehrenkrug strove to throw the bolt. Years 
of idleness had stiffened the lock. But with oil 
and many manipulations the bolt was finally 
thrown. 

The lid turned back, there appeared a black 
hole. The old Freiherr took up the black ebony 
box. Carefully he touched the edges with oil and 
gently he placed it in the hole. It fitted perfectly. 
A perceptible glance of relief passed over the 
faces of the group. 

A moment later there was handed into the room 
two buckets of water. Wolfgang von Ehren¬ 
krug motioned to his companions to stand back. 
As they withdrew he poured the water over the 
6 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


box until the crevices were filled . 1 Then taking 
a heavy wooden mallet, he struck the ebony box, 
now in position, a sharp blow. With a clicking 
noise a seam in the extreme right opened and dis¬ 
closed a hollow compartment. Bending over, the 
old Freiherr abstracted a zinc cylinder contain¬ 
ing closely written parchments yellow with age. 
These parchments were sealed with the great seal 
of Prussia. 

Calling his companions, he had them bear wit¬ 
ness to the fact that the seals were intact and 
unbroken. * 

Thereupon they signed a paper which the 
Count placed with other similar vouchers in an¬ 
other compartment of the chest. Returning the 
documents to their tube, he carefully abstracted 
the ebony box, closed the lid and locked the outer 
covering of the catafalque. A few moments 
later the party was driven to the station, whence 
a special train conveyed them to Berlin. 

1 A powerful deadly poison in the form of fine powder is 
sprinkled freely between the outer lid and the inner secret cubicle 
of the catafalque. The drenching eliminated the risk to those 
acquainted with the secret Those unacquainted with the secret 
pay the price of their unwarranted trespass. On two distinct oc¬ 
casions attempts were made by unauthorized persons to delve into 
this chest. Both were found dead alongside it 


7 


CHAPTER II 

THE NEW REGIME 

B ERLIN was cast in gloom. The usual 
rather boisterous gaiety of the Berliners was 
very much subdued. On Unter den Linden a fine 
drizzling rain made the great globes of the elec¬ 
tric arc lights gleam as through a hazy nebula. 
A great rain-soaked throng of humanity moved 
slowly up to the Palais on the Schloss-Platz, be¬ 
coming denser as it neared the royal residence 
where other masses of loyal citizens had stood for 
hours, awaiting the dread news. The idol of the 
German Empire, the hero of the Franco-Prussian 
War, the ideal of Teutonic manhood, lay dying. 
Anxiously every face was turned toward the flag¬ 
staff on the roof of the Palais, where the royal 
standard was drooping. A dim figure was seen 
fumbling with the halyards, and slowly the stand¬ 
ard was lowered to half mast. The indistinct 
murmur of the vast crowd was instantly hushed, 
and with bared heads they listened to the booming 
8 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

of the minute guns. Frederick III, Emperor of 
Germany, King of Prussia, lovingly called “ Un- 
ser Fritz,” was dead. 

For the second time within one hundred and 
two days the Empire was cast into deep mourn¬ 
ing. The new ruler, in certain sections feared 
and hated on account of supposed intolerance and 
ambition, was largely an unknown, but all-impor¬ 
tant factor in their destinies. No wonder anx¬ 
ious faces were lifted to the dim outline of the 
emblem of royal power. 

Inside the Palais, in the anteroom leading to 
the royal death chamber, were assembled the prin¬ 
cipal office holders of the Empire, led by Fiirst 
Bismarck, who stood nearest to the folding doors. 
He stood alone, evidently sunk in deep reflection. 
Curious glances and significant shoulder shrugs 
were directed toward him, plainly showing the 
rather ill-concealed thoughts of some of the 
courtiers present. Bismarck, the man of blood 
and iron, the Iron Chancellor, almost undisputed 
head in Prussia and Germany for nearly twenty 
years, awaited his new master. Portentous meet¬ 
ing, this. The folding doors were pushed back, 
and with short, jerky steps Prince Wilhelm of 
Prussia, who only in the last ten minutes had be- 
9 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


come King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany, 
stood before them. 

A medium tall, slimly built, fair-haired young 
man, remarkable only by reason of his intensely 
sharp, clear, steel blue eyes and proud bearing. 
Almost insignificant in this group of exceptionally 
tall, broad-shouldered, imposing-looking, gray¬ 
haired men, he was nearly dwarfed by the mas¬ 
terful presence of the Iron Chancellor. Hardly 
noticing the deep obeisance of the dignitaries, he 
stood gazing for fully a minute at the maker of 
his empire. Bismarck, drawn to his full height, 
looked straight at his new king. Slowly a quiet, 
almost paternal, smile appeared on the ruggedly 
lined face of the Chancellor. A deep, nervous 
flush overspread the young king’s countenance. 
What were the thoughts coursing through those 
two minds? The one, by hereditary, inalienable 
and, to his mind, divine right, emperor of forty 
million people, placed there by an accident of 
birth—the other, a master mind seen but once in 
a century, the instrument that made possible his 
elevation to imperial power. The smile and flush 
can easily be interpreted. 

Bismarck took two steps toward the King. 
William II held out his hand. Bismarck bent 

io 



EMPEROR FREDERICK III 
Unser Fritz,” the present emperor’s father 
















* 

























' 





















The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

over it, stooping low to imprint the kiss of 
homage. Then the young monarch, his blue eyes 
alight with pride, showed one of his rare flashes 
of intuition and tact by placing his arm around 
the Chancellor with an intimate gesture. Still 
keeping his left arm on Bismarck’s shoulder, he 
turned to the others, saying: 

“Gentlemen, the Kaiser, my father, ist zur 
Ruhe gegangen ” 

Turning to Bismarck, he said in his sharp, 
rather shrill voice, “Your Excellency will issue 
all necessary orders and send out the sum¬ 
mons.” 

With a wave of his hand he dismissed his audi¬ 
ence, and, beckoning to Bismarck to follow him, 
he reentered the death chamber. 

Six hours after the young emperor had led Bis¬ 
marck to the bed of the dead king there was held 
in the Royal Palais a secret conclave. The King, 
Bismarck, von Ehrenkrug, and three others de¬ 
bated long behind closed doors which opened only 
when Wilhelm II and the tall Ehrenkrug de¬ 
scended into the royal archives. What tran¬ 
spired there no one (except the Emperor and von 
Ehrenburg) knows, for Wolfgang von Ehren¬ 
krug had delivered to the new emperor the black 
ii 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


box with the secrets of his house, secrets that 
were later to soak Europe in blood. 

When Wilhelm II came up from the secret 
room he was a changed man. From a rather 
gay, somewhat dissipated, broad-minded Bo¬ 
hemian prince, Wilhelm II had changed myster¬ 
iously into a stern, almost puritanical king, with 
no thought but for his house and empire. He 
had read the message, the instruction that was 
to fashion his destiny. 

Some, indeed most of those documents are in 
the handwriting of Frederick the Great. The 
exact purport is known only to those directly con¬ 
cerned and only given to the ascending kings . 1 
It is a notorious fact that wars and acts of ag¬ 
gression are never entered into by the Hohenzol¬ 
lerns until they have reached the age of forty. 
This is of remarkable significance when history 
has shown us that acts of conquest are made at 
an extremely early age and in the first years of 
manhood when ideals and ideas pulse powerfully 
and run high. In the instances of Genghis Khan, 

1 The author wishes it clearly understood that his knowledge 
of these things is derived and pieced together solely from conver¬ 
sations overheard in his own family circle, from personal observa¬ 
tion and disjointed scraps of documentary evidence which have 
at times passed through his hands. He does not claim a personal 
perusal or contact with the documents mentioned in this chapter. 


12 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


Tamerlane, Alexander the Great, Attila and 
Bonaparte, their conquests were made in their 
early manhood, in some instances even in their 
teens. The history of the Hohenzollerns, with 
one or two exceptions, shows the distinct opposite. 
The empire and reign of these youthful conquer¬ 
ors has never lasted longer than the second or 
third generation, whereas the Hohenzollerns with 
ever-increasing power have reigned for nearly 
eight centuries. In natural traits and impulses 
they have the same tendencies of making their 
power and might felt, they have the same desire 
as is shown in the history of Frederick the Great 
and the attitude of the present heir apparent to 
give to primeval and martial instincts. Never¬ 
theless, these desires are curbed and undergo a 
complete change on attaining supreme command. 
William II made no exception to this mysterious 
influence. 

The first act of the young kaiser after his view 
of the contents of that box was to place his own 
mother under arrest. 

Now, between Wilhelm II and his mother, no 
love was ever lost. The reason for this dormant 
ill-feeling goes back many years. When he was 
about two years of age, his mother, then Crown 

13 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


Princess Frederick, rigidly adhered to her English 
habits, one of these being her daily morning ride. 
These rides were looked upon rather askance, 
as it was not the custom for princesses of the 
Prussian court to show their equestrian abilities. 
Her Royal Highness also had a habit of taking 
her little son in front of her saddle, all remon¬ 
strances being of no avail. On one of these morn¬ 
ing constitutionals, having to manage a rather 
restive animal, she dropped the infant. Some¬ 
what alarmed, in view of the antagonistic atti¬ 
tude of the Court toward these morning canters, 
the accident was not mentioned and no medical 
attendance was called in at the time. After 
about three weeks, alarming symptoms appear¬ 
ing in the left arm and one side of the young 
prince, professional advisers were summoned. 
They had come too late; muscular atrophy result¬ 
ing from a fracture had set in. Hence dates 
the Emperor’s crippled left arm. Wilhelm II, 
intense admirer of all perfection, physical and 
otherwise, never forgave his mother. 

It was not likely then that, suspecting his 
mother of having appropriated one of the most 
important documents from the secret archives of 
the Hohenzollerns, Wilhelm II would blush at 
14 


I 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

drastic measures. Wherefore there came a con¬ 
ference with von Ehrenkrug. The Emperor im¬ 
prisoned his mother in the palace. She was 
under guard—polite guard, to be sure, but ut¬ 
terly unyielding—for two days. At the end of 
that time Wolfgang von Ehrenkrug was sum¬ 
moned. Imprisonment had effected the desired 
result. The document was restored. 

Freiherr Wolfgang von Ehrenkrug was seated 
in his study, reading the daily newspapers just 
arrived from the capital, a frown on his forehead 
getting deeper and deeper. The news contained 
in the papers was of an alarming nature. Sweep¬ 
ing changes were taking place in the army and 
civil cabinets. The martial, and somewhat bom¬ 
bastic, utterances of the new Emperor, had 
created a lot of ill-feeling in France. Affairs, up 
to now solely directed by Bismarck in an even, 
if iron tenor, were becoming unsettled through 
his continual clashing with the new imperial will. 
Bismarck, long used to undisputed sway and a 
free hand, was becoming more or less handicapped 
by the Emperor’s growing habit of personally con¬ 
ducting affairs of state, and a break, sooner or 
later, became daily more apparent. 

15 





The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Von Ehrenkrug's perusal of the papers was 
disturbed by a servant announcing a visitor, who 
proved to be the Minister of Police, a cabinet of¬ 
ficer of high rank, Count von P-. Von 

Ehrenkrug and the minister were life-long 

friends and comrades-in-arms. Von P- 

unburdened himself without hesitation. 

“ Things are moving fast in the capital, Ehren¬ 
krug. We've got a new master with a vengeance. 
Every report goes to him direct, instead of to the 
Chancellory. There's a deal of disappointment 
amongst his old cronies. I've had instructions to 
intimate to quite a few of them that a change 
of air—considerable air—would be very bene¬ 
ficial for their health." Bending forward, he 
said in a tense whisper, “He's inaugurating his 
own private Secret Service; messengers of his 
own choosing are coming and going hourly. The 
ambassadors to St. Petersburg and the Quai 
d’Orsay are being recalled. Changes, Ehren¬ 
krug." 

Von Ehrenkrug had listened in silence, nod¬ 
ding his head now and then. Now, raising his 
head, and looking his old friend straight in the 
face, he quietly remarked: 

16 




EMPRESS FREDERICK III. AND THE PRESENT 
KAISER, AS PRINCE WILLIAM OF PRUSSIA 































The Secrets of the Hohenzollems 


“And the object of your visit, Alter Freund, is 
what ?” 

The Minister of Police fidgeted somewhat, 
and after a slight hesitation said: 

“It is about your nephew. Have you heard 
from him lately?” 

Receiving a negative reply, he continued: 

“Well, the young fool has been at it again. He 
has compromised himself to such an extent that a 
prolonged absence would be very advisable. I 
have received, so far, no official orders, and it is 
only on account of our long friendship that I am 
here to advise you in this matter. Your nephew, 
as you may or may not be aware, has identified 
himself with the Revolutionary Socialistic Party, 
and has been indiscreet enough to advocate their 
radical theories, not only in speeches, but in writ¬ 
ings—brilliant writings, I must admit—but 
nevertheless highly dangerous, bound to come to 
the Emperor’s notice. I would advise you to 
use your influence to stop this foolishness, or send 
him out of the country.” 

Von Ehrenkrug had listened without comment, 
and now simply said, “Thank you, old friend.” 

Touching a bell, he instructed the answering 
1 7 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


servant to telegraph immediately to the young 
Freiherr at the University of Bonn to return 
home at once. . . . 

The railway station at Furstenwalde an der 
Spree is small and sleepy. It is not a usual stop¬ 
ping-place for express trains, so that when the 
eastbound through train slowed down and came 
to a halt it drew quite a few curious onlookers. 
A young man descended, carrying overcoat and 
cane. The station master gave a startled look, 
then rushed forward, giving the youth an effusive 
greeting, which was returned in a very debonnair 
manner. Most of the idlers gathered also ex¬ 
tended familiar, yet very respectful, greetings, 
and one of them being asked by a stranger, “Who 
is this young man? He seems pretty popular,” 
was informed with no little pride of tone and ges¬ 
ture, “That’s our young Freiherr, Bertram von 
Ehrenkrug.” The station master, who knew 
young Bertram since he was knee-high, expressed 
his wonderment at the sudden appearance of the 
Freiherr, at the same time querying about lug¬ 
gage and means of transportation, to all of which 
queries he received the laughing answer, “Oh, the 
Governor wired for me and, Donnerwetter, I’ve 
18 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

left my grip in the train. I forgot to let them 
know at home that I was coming by this train. 
You had better telegraph to the Schloss and have 
them send in the dog cart. I am going over to 
the. Black Eagle Inn.” 

All of which was very characteristic of Bertram 
Erwin, hereditary Freiherr and heir of Derer 
von and Zu Ehrenkrug, for a more unconven¬ 
tional, Bohemian scion the rather staid, conven¬ 
tionally conservative and proud House of Ehren¬ 
krug had never produced. This trait of char¬ 
acter, manifested since the early childhood of 
Bertram, was a continual source of discord be¬ 
tween him and the head of the house. Bertram 
was soon comfortably ensconced in the beer gar¬ 
den fronting the inn, and quickly surrounded by 
a coterie of old cronies, hugely enjoying their 
gossip. All too soon the dog cart drove up. All 
too soon, for Bertram had a decidedly uneasy feel¬ 
ing in regard to his sudden summons home. He 
was received by his uncle’s own body servant, 
upon whose countenance, at no time cheerful, 
rested an extra funereal gloom. With a muttered 
“B-rr, the weather gauge points to storm. I’m in 
for it,” he walked into his uncle’s study. 

The old Freiherr was standing in front of the 
19 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

fireplace. Acknowledging the salute of his 
nephew with a curt nod, he queried, “Have you 
eaten, Bertram ?” receiving an equally curt, “Yes, 
thanks, sir ” 

There was no hint of familiarity or close rela¬ 
tionship in their attitude. Notwithstanding, they 
bore a striking resemblance to each other. Ber¬ 
tram was as tall as his uncle, but of slimmer build. 
The same widely set-apart blue eyes, the same 
high forehead and firmly molded chin, in the case 
of the younger man as yet softer and unlined. 
Without preamble, his uncle began: 

“I suppose you know why I have recalled you 
from your university ?” Without waiting for an 
answer, he continued: 

“I have received a visit from Count von P-, 

who unofficially informed me that your activities 
have attracted the seriously displeased attention 
of the Government. It is only your position as 
my nephew and heir to the House of Ehrenkrug 
and the personal friendship to me of the Minister 
of Police, that has saved you from most serious 

consequences. Von P- warned me that the 

Emperor’s attention was bound to be drawn to¬ 
ward you. I intended to send you abroad, but 

Von P- ’s warning came too late. I received, 

20 





The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

this morning, a peremptory order from the Em¬ 
peror for your instant removal from the Uni¬ 
versity. You are to report yourself to the Mili¬ 
tary Kadetten-Anstalt of Lichterfelde within 
forty-eight hours. You can count yourself for¬ 
tunate, for instead of a punishment, it is more of 
an honor. 

“Not a word!” the Freiherr commanded, rais¬ 
ing his hand in a gesture of silence. “I know 
what you wish to say. We have gone over all 
this before. I know your ideals about being a 
free agent and leading your own life. You are 
not a free agent, and you cannot lead your own 
life. You have to pay the penalty—if penalty it 
is—of being born into the House of Ehrenkrug, 
which for five hundred years has observed tradi¬ 
tion and served its rulers and country with unsul¬ 
lied honor and fidelity. Be silent!” the Freiherr 
exclaimed again, as he noticed an attempt on the 
part of Bertram to interrupt him. “Your free 
thought ideals and tendencies you have without 
doubt derived from your mother, who, excellent 
woman though she was, could never control her 
hot, independent, Polish blood, and to my intense 
sorrow she has bequeathed you her temperament. 
You will from now on be subjected to an iron mili- 


21 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

tary discipline, which will teach you obedience, the 
first rule neccessary in those who wish to com¬ 
mand others. This is your last chance, for al¬ 
though the House of Ehrenkrug has always suf¬ 
ficient power and influence to advance and pro¬ 
tect, this power would never be used for the bene¬ 
fit of an unruly member of the family. You will 
clearly understand this. That is all. Go to your 
quarters.” 

Bowing to his uncle, and turning on his heel, 
Bertram walked out. Like the Emperor, his star 
was not yet in the zenith. 


22 


CHAPTER III 


DROPPING THE PILOT 

“Tempora mutantur 
Et mutantur tempora.” 

T HE times were changing with a vengeance. 

Quite a few, however, found it impossible 
to change with the times set by the new sun. Un¬ 
like the ruler of the solar constellation, Wilhelm 
II made the seasons go in anything but celestial 
regularity. One thing both rulers had in com¬ 
mon: as the heavenly luminary exerts an abso¬ 
lute sway over her satellite, so does the earthly 
monarch demand an absolute subvergence to his 
will. He, von Gottes Gnaden (by the grace of 
God), King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany, 
would not brook an empire within an empire. 

The Court on the Spree, in particular, and the 
Empire in general was seething. William II had 
taken a firm grip. More than any of his prede¬ 
cessors; in fact, not since the days of Frederick 

23 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

the Great had any monarch taken such a personal 
hold of affairs. Every department of state was 
on the constant qui vive; no garrison within two 
hundred miles of Berlin was safe from midnight 
alarms; reforms were the order of the day. Pub¬ 
licly fond of pomp and display, which he con¬ 
sidered commensurate with his imperial dignity, 
the Emperor personally observed a Spartan fru¬ 
gality, and insisted upon the same in others. He 
was deadly opposed to over-indulgence, espe¬ 
cially gambling, which had become somewhat 
prevalent amongst the feudal Prussian aris¬ 
tocracy, particularly in the officers 5 kasino (mess) 
of the crack regiments. 

While he was still Prince of Prussia he had 
been appointed Colonel of the First Dragoon 
Guards by his grandfather, Emperor Wilhelm 
I. The regiment was then stationed at Pots¬ 
dam. The young colonel paid the regiment one 
of his midnight surprise visits. He found a 
large majority of his brother officers in a pretty 
advanced carousal, roulette and baccarat tables 
well patronized. Prince Wilhelm placed the 
whole lot under instant arrest and had them con¬ 
fined to quarters. Every one of those officers 
was connected with the leading Prussian aristoc- 
24 



THE IRON CHANCELLOR 




























* * ; * */ i 





















































































The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

racy, having a great deal of political influence and 
social prestige. The old emperor was privately 
approached to intercede for them. He sum¬ 
moned his nephew and suggested that the inci¬ 
dent be overlooked. 

Prince Wilhelm quietly asked his grandfather: 
“Am I Colonel of the First Dragoon Guards ?” 

“You certainly are,” he was told. 

“Am I responsible for the regiment?” 

“Without doubt.” 

The young prince slowly unbuckled his sword 
and holding it out to the Emperor, saluting, said: 

“I tender Your Majesty my resignation as Col¬ 
onel of the Prussian Dragoon Guards No. i.” 

The startled, but secretly much-pleased old 
Emperor refused the resignation. When the 
fathers and friends of the disgraced officers again 
approached His Imperial Majesty, they were 
told: 

“I am quite willing to be lenient, but, you see, 
the Colonel is not.” A goodly number of the of¬ 
ficers were broken and exiled. 

The Court itself was divided into three distinct 
factions. The first, led by Bismarck, was com¬ 
posed of gray-haired members of the two pre- 

25 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


vious regimes, accustomed to having their own 
way in conducting affairs as they had done under 
the old Emperor William I, and the ill and easy¬ 
going Frederick III. 

The second faction was grouped around the 
Empress Frederick III, who, prior to her mar¬ 
riage to Frederick III, then Crown Prince of 
Prussia, was Princess Royal of England, being 
the eldest child of Queen Victoria. A typical, 
cold, proud English woman, she never quite found 
her place in the Prussian royal court. Accus¬ 
tomed to considerable political power and influ¬ 
ence in her home country and at her mother’s 
court, she never ceased trying to graft English 
ideas upon the Prussian court, with rather dis¬ 
astrous results to herself and supporters, for soon 
after the ascension of Wilhelm II to the throne 
she went into almost complete retirement. The 
misunderstanding between Wilhelm II and his 
mother has often been used by the enemies of the 
Emperor to his disparagement. This has a cer¬ 
tain justification, for while he accorded to his 
mother a deferential attitude, due to her as Em¬ 
press Mother, Wilhelm II, ever being a stickler 
for etiquette, at no time pretended to be a loving 
son—why, you already know. 

26 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

The third faction was of the Emperor’s own 
selection, men of the younger generation, of a new 
era, and with a more pronounced commercial in¬ 
stinct. A Neuer Zeitgeist (new spirit of the 
times) was setting in, and Wilhelm II thoroughly 
identified himself with this spirit—contrary to the 
approval of Bismarck’s faction. 

It was inevitable that there came a day when in 
the Reichs-Kanzler Palais (the official residence 
of the Chancellor) in Berlin an air of great ex¬ 
citement was apparent. Secretaries, Kabinets - 
Rate (privy counselors) and ministers were com¬ 
ing and going or standing about in groups in the 
numerous antechambers of the palace. The con¬ 
ference chamber leading immediately into Fiirst 
Bismarck’s study was filled with the leaders of* 
the Imperial Diet and the principal members of 
their respective parties. 

Low-toned but eager conversation was going 
on. The greater number of the groups, composed 
of the older men, were mostly friends of the old 
chancellor, used to and versed in the methods of 
their chief and leader. Little wonder that they 
cast anxious looks toward the door leading into 
the old lion’s den. Other groups, representing the 
younger generation and the new era, notably 
27 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

those of the Left Center, the Clericals, were 
plainly elated. The heavy heel of the man of iron 
was going to be lifted; the pin pricks and machi¬ 
nations of the parties opposed to Bismarck’s 
policies were at last to take effect. Hence, their 
elation. The Gespante Stimmung (strained sym¬ 
pathy) between the Emperor and his chancellor 
was on the breaking point. This, to a certain 
extent, was undoubtedly due to Bismarck’s un¬ 
compromising attitude toward the new spirit of 
the time. 

A typical leader and exponent of the iron-clad 
Prussian Junkerdom (feudalism), he showed an 
unyielding front toward the awakening and rest¬ 
less commercial spirit of the new Germany. By 
birth, breeding, natural tendencies, and habit, 
Bismarck was the embodiment of radical con¬ 
servatism. His immense superiority over all his 
contemporaries and his signal successes in weld¬ 
ing the North German confederation into a co¬ 
hesive empire, besides his dominant personality, 
had made him the idol of the German people. 
Used to unrestricted power and almost absolute 
control under the regimes of William I and Fred¬ 
erick III, the active interference in his policies 
by the young emperor were treated by Bismarck 
28 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

with scant tolerance. At no time choice in his 
expressions against those in opposition, Bismarck 
more than once voiced criticisms about the new 
emperor, which were drastic to say the least. 
These remarks, judiciously exaggerated, were 
promptly transmitted to His Imperial Majesty by 
the Chancellor’s enemies, and were, to a great ex¬ 
tent, responsible for Bismarck’s brusk retire¬ 
ment. 

Another factor which conspired toward his 
downfall, a factor whose power many equally 
great men have found out too late, was the an¬ 
tagonizing of the Church. The Church has had, 
has now, and always will have, a tremendous in¬ 
fluence in national affairs. Outstanding figures 
in history have been able to use religion, domineer 
it, even subjugate it; but only for a time. This 
applies to all denominations, more especially to 
the established Catholic Church, most so to the 
followers of Loyola (Jesuits), the militant sec¬ 
tion of the Church of Rome. Bismarck, in the 
zenith of his power, deemed it necessary to crush 
its radical influence in Germany, and did so in 
his usual relentless manner. 

An incident in Bismarck’s career showing his 
iron hand may not be inappropriate here. The 
29 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Chancellor had curtailed the prerogatives and 
holdings of the Catholic churches in Germany to 
a great extent, the hardest hit being the institu¬ 
tion and properties of the Brothers of Jesus. 
The Catholic Church, more especially this par¬ 
ticular branch thereof, never submits to affronts 
without a struggle, and a bitter struggle it be¬ 
came. Their splendid organization opposed Bis¬ 
marck to such an extent that he soon found it 
necessary to crush them, as he thought, com¬ 
pletely. He confiscated their entire land hold¬ 
ings, taxed their properties, and put their insti¬ 
tutions, such as colleges and seminaries, under 
direct state control. He also exiled and drove 
out of Germany about fifty per cent, of their of¬ 
ficials. A threat was made to Bismarck that un¬ 
less he repealed those orders, his life would be 
forfeited. The threat was, unfortunately, fol¬ 
lowed by a desperate attack: the Roman Catholic 
Kullman, a tinsmith, made a violent attack on 
Bismarck at Kissingen. This deed was done in 
a white fury of Ultramontane anger, engendered 
by the May laws, and in no wise can be attributed 
to any branch of the Church. The Order of the 
Jesuits are not Maffias or blackhanders; their 
summons is never an idle one. This attack by 
30 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Kullman, however, resulted in even more strin¬ 
gent restrictions being placed on Jesuitical insti¬ 
tutions. Bismarck did not treat the ultimatum 
lightly. Within forty-eight hours a double mili¬ 
tary post was stationed outside the domicile of 
every prominent dignitary, such as priests, rec¬ 
tors, and vicars. They had strict orders to shoot 
every designated person in the event of Bismarck 
being assassinated . . . Bismarck died a natural 
death . . . 

There was a clatter of hoofs and a rattle of 
arms outside the portals of the palace. Inside, 
the whispering groups became still. The at¬ 
tendants were hurrying to their posts. The por¬ 
tals were thrown open and the chief usher an¬ 
nounced, “Seine Majestat der Kaiser 

William II, curtly acknowledging the salute 
of the assembled gentlemen, walked without pause 
directly into the Chancellor’s private chamber. 
Bismarck was seated at his desk in the historic, 
double-bay windows. He was sitting with his 
head resting on his hand, in deep thought. From 
the two private secretaries at their desks at the 
other end of the room came never a sound. The 
sudden opening of the door and the springing to 
attention of the secretaries drew Bismarck’s at- 
3i 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

tention. This appearance of the Emperor’s un¬ 
announced and unexpected presence in his quar¬ 
ters was plainly an unwelcome surprise. It was 
one of His Majesty’s famous surprise visits, 
which earned him the sobriquet of “Wilhelm der 
Plotzliche” (William the Sudden). Bismarck 
did not rise till the Emperor was directly in front 
and had addressed him with a sharp, “Well?” 

Slowly and heavily he rose and looked down 
upon his king. In a weary, almost toneless voice, 
in striking contrast to his usual metallic utter¬ 
ances, the Chancellor said these words: “I will 
not retract, so under these circumstances, Your 
Majesty must do as he sees fit.” 

The Emperor, plainly angered, started an ex¬ 
plosive sentence: “Well, then, I demand 
your—” Suddenly he checked himself, and turn¬ 
ing around to the secretaries, who were still 
standing at their respective desks, ordered them 
to leave the room. What subsequently trans¬ 
pired between those two men is only known to 
themselves. The tense dignitaries in the ante¬ 
rooms were kept waiting for fully two hours be¬ 
fore the Emperor reappeared. 

Bismarck conducted the Kaiser to his carriage. 
Nothing in the attitude or facial expression of 
32 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

either the Emperor or the Chancellor gave the 
slightest indication of what had happened at this 
historic conference. The different political fac¬ 
tions and parties assembled were profoundly 
puzzled; and when the Emperor in taking leave 
of his Chancellor placed his arm with an affection¬ 
ate gesture on Bismarck’s shoulder, saying in a 
tone of voice easily heard by all those in the room: 
“I trust that Your Excellency’s health will im¬ 
prove, and that God will spare you to me and my 
country,” the previously ill-suppressed air of ela¬ 
tion in certain circles disappeared as if by magic. 

The Emperor’s pretended friendship for Bis¬ 
marck deceived every one. Had there existed in 
Bismarck the slightest disloyalty to the House of 
Hohenzollern, however, the Iron Chancellor could 
have made himself master of Germany in name 
as well as in fact. But there was in Bismarck the 
true obedience to the iron law of feudal self-ef¬ 
facement for the common weal, and so he stepped 
down into oblivion. 

Only after Bismarck’s return to his chamber 
on the historic day of the Emperor’s visit and his 
refusal to be seen, did pointed hints and conjec¬ 
tures begin making their rounds. Notwithstand¬ 
ing these conjectures, hints, and gossip, it was 
33 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

five days afterwards that the first indications of a 
serious break between the Iron Chancellor and the 
Emperor became known; and, curiously enough, 
via England. It is a strange fact, which has 
puzzled quite a few, why Sir John Tenniel, the 
famous British cartoonist, was able to publish his 
historic cartoon in Punch (“Dropping the Pilot”) 
almost simultaneously with Bismarck’s resig¬ 
nation. The reason why may be interesting to 
know. At that time, March 18, 1890, the Em¬ 
peror, always more or less in the good graces of 
his grandmother, Victoria the Good, was dis¬ 
tinctly persona grata at the Court of St. James. 
Bismarck, for many reasons, not the least of them 
being his blunt antagonism toward the Dowager 
Empress Frederick III, the Ex-Princess Royal of 
England (eldest daughter of Queen Victoria), 
was distinctly the reverse. The Emperor, in his 
usual impulsive way, had written to his grand¬ 
mother his intention to break with Bismarck. 
Sir John Tenniel, a frequent guest at Windsor, 
happened to be present when this matter was dis¬ 
cussed at the royal tea table, and promptly made 
use of this splendid opportunity to create one of 
his inimitable pen satires. 

The complete break between Bismarck and the 
34 



DROPPING THE PILOT 
Sir John Tenniel’s historic cartoon which appeared in 
“Punch” twenty-four hours before Bismarck’s 
resignation 






















* 


- 











































































The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Emperor created a profound sensation, not only 
in Germany, but throughout the whole civilized 
world. The acts of William II have been and 
are much criticized, but no single act of his begat 
so much adverse comment or aroused such bitter 
feeling. Without presuming or encroaching 
upon the task of the historian, it is but just to ob¬ 
serve the res tuas agas. As previously indicated, 
Bismarck’s economic methods had become some¬ 
what antiquated. He did not understand and 
was not in sympathy with the growing commercial 
ambition of the new Germany and its young ruler. 
His arbitrary rule and iron hand had antagonized 
large and powerful factions, notably the Blacks, 
the Left Center, and the Clericals. Add to this 
his personal domineering arrogance as against 
the Emperor’s ambitious intolerance, and it will 
be easily seen that such a state of affairs was im¬ 
possible. Bismarck’s service and achievements 
for his house and empire were always unstintingly 
acknowledged by William II. He created and 
made Furst Bismarck the Hertzog of Langen- 
burg, with the predicat of prince. Bismarck, who 
was not rich, received a magnificent estate out of 
the Emperor’s private property. The Emperor, 
contrary to his usual habit, repeatedly sought 
35 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

after Bismarck, and any ill-feeling between 
those two was of Bismarck's own nursing. It is 
a curious trait in the House of Hohenzollern that 
they were ever ungrateful masters but stanch per¬ 
sonal friends; but personal friendship and regard 
is never permitted to stand in the way of what 
they conceive to be to the advantage of their house 
or country. As the late Prince Hohenlohe said, 
shortly before his retirement, Wilhelm became 
the coolest rationalist, the greatest egotist, and 
the most ungrateful person he had ever met. 

Without doubt William II has fostered that 
spirit of braggadocio which has led the German 
nation to believe its manifest destiny to be the 
leading power in the world. His own egotistical 
and arrogant ways were apparent long before he 
ascended the throne. There is every reason to 
believe that these inherited tendencies were fur¬ 
ther aggravated through his close identification 
with the most objectionably feudal, aristocratic, 
student corp, the Borussia, while at the Uni¬ 
versity of Bonn. This is clearly indicated in the 
extreme partiality shown to all his old Kommil - 
tonen (fellow students), of that association. To 
be a Borussiar was an open sesame to the highest 
court positions in the gift of the young kaiser. 

36 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Apart from these reasons, which are salient, 
Bismarck’s dismissal can also be traced to the 
fact that the trend and tendency of the time de¬ 
manded concessions be made from the throne to 
the Church. The growing socialistic propa¬ 
ganda was blocking the ambitious schemes of the 
Emperor to a great extent. The conspiracy 
against Bismarck had begun as early as 1885, and 
it is a striking fact that for five years after his 
dismissal Bismarck’s name was not permitted to 
be mentioned in the Reichstag—the very body 
that he himself had created. This non-support 
of Bismarck by the Center, the Clerical Party, 
made the passing of the army and especially the 
navy bills impossible. 

Bismarck’s successor, Count von Hohenlohe- 
Schillingsfuerst, was a scion of an illustrious 
Catholic family, which had provided many promi¬ 
nent dignitaries to that faith. The immediate re¬ 
sult of the Emperor’s clever pacification of the 
powerful Center was the passing of the much-dis¬ 
puted army and navy appropriations. With true 
Hohenzollern insight, stimulated by the concen¬ 
trated experience and advice stored in the royal 
secret archives, the Emperor has managed not 
only to get but to retain the good will and sup- 
37 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

port of the Catholic Church; an unobtrusive, al¬ 
most invisible support, nevertheless one of the 
most potent factors in the affairs of nations. 
How this support was gained and strengthened 
the reader can readily follow in the movements of 
the Kaiser and the attitude of the Church. 

The successors of Peter have always deemed it 
advisable to support the most virile imperial 
power extant. The chief paradox of the situa¬ 
tion was this: The Church, although professing 
to hold itself aloof from all temporal matters, 
realized that it could flourish only on direct 
authority and tradition, and consequently de¬ 
fended and supported the old established order, 
and therefore always allied itself with the most 
powerful and strongest to uphold its dignity. 
When Spain became decadent it shifted this 
support to France; after the French Revolution, 
the Emperor of Austria became titular protector 
of the Vatican; but there is no person or business 
on earth so quick in finding the weak spot as 
those at the helm of Christ’s trireme. Austria, 
with its forty-two million souls of different racial 
tendencies and ambitions, was soon found to be 
rather an insecure anchoring ground. Ger¬ 
many’s sixty-five cohesive millions, rapidly pro- 
38 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

gressing in physical and material wealth, offered 
safer harborage. Bismarck, the storm center of 
the Kulturkampf and the main obstacle to a closer 
understanding, having been removed, overtures 
from the Vatican to the Court on the Spree found 
a harmonious reception . . . 

The royal train in white and pale-blue enamel 
with the Prussian eagle embossed on each side 
was pulling out of the Lehrter (depot) in Berlin. 
This train would be outstanding even in America, 
the land par excellence in railroad travel. It is 
invariably composed of five cars: the first con¬ 
taining railway and service officials; the second, 
the Emperor’s immediate suite; the middle, the 
Emperor’s coach; the fourth, dining and library 
car; and the last, the kitchen and lavatories. 
The Emperor’s coach is the consummation of ele¬ 
gance and comfort. It is upholstered in silver 
brocade with dark rosewood facings, the dome 
solid panes of cut crystals, through which the 
electric bulbs filter the light with a soothing rain¬ 
bow effect. There is one corner of this coach, 
however, severely plain. It contains the Em¬ 
peror’s cot and work table; here the paneling is 
oak and here is his iron bedstead with a mattress, 
39 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


the texture of which, if provided by the Pennsyl¬ 
vania Railroad, would call forth a flood of protest. 

There is no break in the stern regularity of the 
Emperor’s business life while he travels, for 
Vortragende-Rdte (eminent men of letters, art, 
science, etc., who receive the honor and dignity of 
counselors) invariably accompany the Emperor 
on his travels, and hours, of necessity unoccupied, 
are filled with discussions on the latest achieve¬ 
ments in the various artistic, literary, and scien¬ 
tific fields of the world. To this excellent practise 
of the Emperor’s is due his reputation as a uni¬ 
versal genius, for he has an excellent memory 
and can repeat almost verbatim even lengthy es¬ 
says. Apropos of the German emperor’s well- 
known proclivity for travel, the following query, 
which landed the author thereof for six months in 
durance vile, went the rounds in certain universi¬ 
ties : “What are the attributes of the three Ger¬ 
man emperors, William I, Frederick III, and Wil¬ 
liam II?” The answer: “The Good Kaiser, 
the Mute Kaiser, and the Route Kaiser.” 

The Emperor travels fast, and, of course, has 
the right of way over everything. There is 
always a pilot engine five hundred yards in front 
of the imperial train and also a rear-guard engine 
40 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

at the same distance behind. Since an attempt 
made in 1896 to wreck the imperial train, the ex¬ 
act time and route of the Kaiser’s special is never 
published, and known only to the officials con¬ 
cerned. 

Rome was in gala attire. Was not Guillime II, 
Imperator Allemania, coming to visit their be¬ 
loved Umberto, Re Italia? Thus thought the 
populace. 

In reality, the visit of the Kaiser had quite an¬ 
other significance. Eight hours after the state 
banquet given in his honor at the Quirinal, he was 
quietly driven to the Vatican. The goblins sur¬ 
mounting the Cardinals’ entrance must have 
grinned with an added touch of sardonic humor 
when William II, Emperor of Germany, passed 
through the po.rtals. Eighteen months previous, 
Bismarck at the hottest period of the Kultur - 
kampf (battle of culture) made use of this his¬ 
toric phrase: “Nach, Canossa gehn wir nicht” 
(We wont go to Canossa). He referred to the 
historic incident when Henry IV, Emperor of 
Germany, excommunicated by Pope Gregory VII 
(Hilderbrand) in 1077, was compelled to pilgrim¬ 
age to Italy and stand barefooted in the snow 
whilst His Holiness pronounced his absolution. 
41 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Here, eight hundred years afterwards, another 
wielder of the Reichs-Scepter, the emblem of Ger¬ 
manic power, found it advisable to have speech 
with another pope. The goblins grinned! Wise 
goblins; yours has often been the privilege to see 
confirmed that old saying of the Eternal City, 
“All roads lead to Rome!” 

The audience between His Holiness Leo X, 
Bishop of Rome, Keeper of the Keys of St. Peter, 
Pontiff of all Christendom, and William II, King 
of Prussia and Emperor of Germany, the most 
influential monarch of his time, was significant of 
the changing attitude and politics of the central 
European Power. It was far reaching in its con¬ 
sequences—for William II, fully recognizing the 
value of the Church’s support, tacitly agreed that 
when the time came he would actively support the 
restoration of temporal power of the popes of 
Rome, a far-sighted, keen piece of diplomacy. 
Events are showing clearly that the princes of 
the Church, headed by Benedict, have been keep¬ 
ing and probably will keep Italy from joining the 
Allies. 1 The Kaiser avoided Napoleon Ill’s 

1 The late James T. Creelman, that dean of foreign correspond¬ 
ents, in a conversation with the author years ago in Rome clearly 
showed his marvelous insight and grip of foreign situations by 
correctly forecasting the benefit of the Emperor’s visit to Rome. 

42 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


grievous mistake in trying to outgeneral the most 
astute and seasoned diplomats in Europe. Na¬ 
poleon in all probability would never have lost 
his throne but for his ill-advised policy of oscil¬ 
lating between the Italian government and the 
Church state. He would not agree to Italy’s de¬ 
mand that the temporal power of the popes be 
abolished; on the other hand, his lukewarm prom¬ 
ises to the political faction lost him the goodwill 
and support of the Church of Rome. If the 
Jesuit advisers of the Empress Eugenie had been 
followed, the history of the Franco-Prussian 
War would have been written in different 
terms. 

The Emperor at the time was bitterly assailed 
in his own realm and the target of much buffoon¬ 
ery in other lands. To-day those who run may 
read—and they will have to change their opinion 

Mr. Creelman was the only newspaper man who ever interviewed 
His Holiness. The information which he gained on this memor¬ 
able occasion he never divulged to the public but he freely dis¬ 
cussed this subject with the author who had obtained the same 
information from other channels. Mr. Creelman on many occa¬ 
sions interviewed and met the highest personages in Europe as 
an emissary of the United States government. It was known 
that he was a newspaper correspondent, but such was the con¬ 
fidence placed in this gentleman that his bare promise not to 
print any of the information thus gained in his publications was 
sufficient. These confidences were never abused. The standing 
of this quiet, unassuming American amongst the titled, be-ordered 
European diplomats was truly unique. 

43 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

as regards the waning temporal power of the 
Church. This visit to the Pope was without 
doubt one of the best advised coups the Emperor 
has ever undertaken. Although made not purely 
on his own initiative, and, there is some reason 
to think, without a great deal of enthusiasm for 
the mission, his pilgrimage was in strict adher¬ 
ence to the laws of the Hohenzollerns, which, like 
the laws of the Medes and Persians, alter not nor 
change; laws that have been unswervingly fol¬ 
lowed for the best of their house and country, no 
matter at what cost, since the days of the Mark- 
graf of Brandenburg. 

An ardent advocate of a greater Germany, the 
Emperor successfully used his power to obtain 
colonies, such as German East Africa, the Kame- 
run, Kiao-Chau and Samoa. He became the 
father of the German navy, which up to his com¬ 
ing to the throne constituted half a dozen anti¬ 
quated war vessels. As early as 1892, in Ham¬ 
burg, the Emperor in one of his famous speeches 
used the almost prophetic words, “Deutschland’s 
Zukunft liegt aus dem Wasser” (Germany’s fu¬ 
ture lies on the water), indicating clearly that 
even at this early date he had formulated a defi¬ 
nite policy of expansion, which he never lost sight 
44 



CHANCELLOR VON HOHENLOHE— 
SCHILLINGS FUERST 

The successor of Bismarck, who never surrendered to the 
Kaiser’s domination 






























4 











< 






















. 











The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

of for a moment. At first the feeling of the Ger¬ 
man people toward this policy was less than luke¬ 
warm, but the fast-growing commerce and the 
necessities and benefits arising therefrom soon 
gave the Emperor increasing support. This sup¬ 
port became solid after the Hertzog incident. 

During the Boer War the German East Afri¬ 
can liner Hertzog, flying the postal flag of the 
German Empire, created an international inci¬ 
dent. Without any apparent rime or reason it 
was chased by a British cruiser and stopped off 
Delagoa Bay. The Englishmen boarded the 
steamer which was protected by the imperial flag 
of Germany, and subjected it to a thorough 
search. 

When the Emperor was informed of the af¬ 
fair he at once saw the opportunity. He cleverly 
employed it to further his plans. The press was 
inspired to print articles which caused intense in¬ 
dignation and public feeling. The national pride 
of a German is tremendous and when he read in 
his newspaper that the English, ruling the seas 
with a high hand, had stopped the imperial mail 
steamer, he grew wrathy about it at his cafe table. 
Subtly it was conveyed to him in the public prints 
that if Germany had a powerful navy England 
45 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

would not dare to stop the German flag on the 
high seas. And then, with his characteristic in¬ 
stinct for the dramatic, the Emperor appeared in 
the Reichstag. In terse, sledge-hammer lan¬ 
guage he demanded the support of the deputies 
for his naval policy. With Berlin in a furore 
over the Hertzog incident, the deputies yielded. 
The Emperor did not get all he asked for, but it 
was quite sufficient so that he was able to build up 
his navy until it became from a fifth rate, the sec¬ 
ond naval power in the world. 

The natural consequences of the removal of 
Bismarck, the visit to Italy, and the large increase 
in the strength of the German army and navy 
created an unsettled feeling at home and a deep 
distrust abroad; especially in France. France 
had viewed with not a little alarm the rapidly in¬ 
creasing armament of her northern neighbor, and 
the Emperor’s picturesque saber-rattling and 
dramatic utterances by no means allayed her 
trepidation. The French attitude was anything 
but displeasing to the Emperor just then, as it de¬ 
tracted public attention to a great extent from 
home affairs and gave him sufficient time to make 
sure and perfect his next move. 

The Emperor and his policies had no real de- 
46 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollems 

sire to quarrel with France just then, but there 
was a pronounced adverse feeling in France 
headed by that implacable antagonist to all things 
Germanic, Delcasse, who later with the able as¬ 
sistance of Edward VII made capital out of this 
situation to bring France and England into a 
closer alliance. The Emperor soon recognized 
the active influence of Delcasse and used his in¬ 
fluence and power to such an extent that France 
at that time, to avoid the most serious conse¬ 
quences, agreed to the retirement of one of the 
most able men she has produced. The story of 
how Delcasse’s downfall came about, of course, 
is a matter of common knowledge. 

Now it was about this time that Bertram von 
Ehrenkrug finished his studies at the military 
academy with becoming docility and honor, and 
was in due time commissioned as a lieutenant to 
the Second Guard Uhlans, garrisoned in Berlin. 
Through the influence of his uncle he was given 
special opportunity to see much of the various 
European courts and capitals. Thanks to an as¬ 
sured social position and ample means, he made 
good use of hi# opportunities. Studious and ob¬ 
servant, he acquired a remarkable fund of knowl- 
47 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

edge of men and manners of the countries visited. 
Of a naturally sunny and tactful, almost Bo¬ 
hemian, disposition, he was universally popular 
and soon a marked man to his superiors. All of 
which was necessary for the work which the fates 
had intended this young man should do. Then 
came a summons from the Emperor. The three 
ladies accredited with weaving the web of life 
were weaving fast—weaving intrigue and brood¬ 
ing war, for the young scion of the house of 
Ehrenkrug and the red secret of the Hohenzol¬ 
lerns were to move through the years on converg¬ 
ing roads. 


48 



CHAPTER IV 

THE STORMY PETREL 


T A-TARI-TA-TA! 

Four clear musical notes of a motor horn, 
used only by the Emperor in person. 

“Achtung!” (attention). The Mounted Police 
hold up their hands. In the Unter den Linden 
all traffic stops. The flash of a bright yellow 
motor, the Prussian eagle in black and red on 
both doors, a glimpse of three men in plain dark 
blue and silver livery, and William II, King of 
Prussia, Emperor of Germany, Hertzog of 
Langenburg, Burggraf of Nuremburg, to quote 
but four of his forty titles, thunders past. 
Frantic haste and energy is expressed in the Em¬ 
peror’s mode of traveling. It is characteristic of 
the man, however, that, in spite of his intolerance 
of delays, he makes way and gives precedence to 
the fire brigade of Berlin. 

“Raus!” A rattle of drums, a click of pre¬ 
senting arms, and the car dashes through the por- 
49 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

tals of the Kaiserlicher Palais on the Schloss 
Platz. With quick, nervous steps the Emperor 
walks past the palace guard, his right hand on the 
visor of his helmet, into his home. 

On the right hand side of the first inner court¬ 
yard is an unpretentious, short, marble staircase, 
known as the Kurfiirsten (Elector’s) entrance, 
which the Emperor invariably uses. It does not 
matter how tired he is, he always walks up the 
twenty-six steps leading to his own quarters, 
often to the great annoyance and distress of some 
fat, short-winded, feeble-legged Rate Herren 
(Counselors). If accompanied, members of his 
suite, unless of the royal family or of the privy 
council, invariably remain in the first chamber, the 
Orangen Zimmer (Orange room). 

Without pause, the Emperor walks into the 
next room where day and night a military aide- 
de-camp, a civil secretary, and two stenographers 
are at*vork. There is no jumping up and salut¬ 
ing here; a momentary stiffening to an erect 
position in their respective chairs, and without 
pause the occupants of this room keep on with 
their duties. Time-wasting court etiquette is 
taboo here. The adjoining room is in charge of 
His Majesty's own personal attendants. One 
50 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

takes the Emperor's helmet; another, with a deft 
movement, unbuckles his sword; they do this on 
the run, for the Emperor rarely pauses until he is 
in his dressing-room. His body attendant awaits 
him with the interim (undress) uniform jacket of 
a colonel of the First Grenadier Guards. This is 
a well-worn piece of clothing, comfortably 
shabby, and the only piece of relaxation which the 
Emperor permits himself. His Majesty is never 
seen in dressing gown and slippers. While the 
Emperor is changing, his body servant hands him 
a silver basin with a sponge drenched in eau de 
cologne, of which refreshing perfume William 
II is very fond. It is the only perfume he uses, 
and is never without; for be it at the theater, 
at a hunting party, or in the maneuver field, there 
is always an attendant with eau de cologne — 
soaked sponges of which he makes free use. On 
entering his workroom to the right, the Emperor 
is handed a short porcelain pipe of an old* Ger¬ 
manic pattern, invariably filled with a home prod¬ 
uct of German tobacco, called “Knaster.” 
(Among the many excellent things that Germany 
manufactures, Knaster holds no place.) 

The workroom is a dark oak-paneled chamber, 
upholstered in severely plain olive-green leather. 

5i 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

An enormous oak table, surrounded by six solid 
armchairs, fills the center of the room. Along 
the walls, from top to bottom, are bookcases con¬ 
taining every conceivable information on army, 
navy, law, and administrative matters. 

By this time there have assembled in the room 
men whose business is of such importance as ad¬ 
mits of no delay. Always present, is Count 
Botho von Wedell, the Emperor’s chief of the 
Secret Service. A curt nod, and the Emperor 
seats himself. Without wasting time on for¬ 
malities each states his business in a clear and 
concise manner, often interrupted by sharp, mat¬ 
ter-of-fact questions from the Emperor. A 
short “Danke, Meine Herren” (Thank you, Gen¬ 
tlemen), they are dismissed, only Wedell remain¬ 
ing. The Emperor presses a button in the arm 
of his chair and the military aide-de-camp enters, 
putting down a bundle of papers, which are 
glanced through. Not a word is spoken. A tap 
on the table is a sign of dismissal for the aide. 
Another ring and the civil secretary appears. 
The same procedure is observed. Not a sound. 

The next half hour the Emperor spends in 
close and absolute privacy with his chief of the 
Secret Service, and what there transpires no one 
52 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

knows. It is now close on to twelve o’clock. It 
is at that hour that many mysterious visitors are 
escorted to the imperial presence, and here, unless 
the Emperor is in his underground chamber in 
the Wilhelmstrasse, he instructs his own confi¬ 
dential agents. 

The Emperor was in the midst of an emphatic 
statement, when a note was handed to Count 
Wedell. Glancing at it, he addressed his master: 

“Bertram von Ehrenkrug, Sire, by special ap¬ 
pointment.” 

“Ah, yes, Count. We’ll have him in directly. 
Promising youngster, this. Clever and intelli¬ 
gent. Just the man we need.” 

After a pause, and as if to himself, “Absolutely 
dependable; family too closely identified with us, 
eh. Count?” 

Von Wedell acquiesced, but remarked, “But 
the Truchsess, Sire?” 

The Emperor pondered. “H’m; I will take 
care of that. Have him shown in.” 

Royalty, although fond of crediting their ex¬ 
alted rank to divine disposition, have found time 
after time that the feudal aristocracy from whose 
ranks they originally sprang had more to do with 
the actual continuance of their power than any di- 
53 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

yine interference. The mainstay of monarchial 
power, these free barons, counts, freiherren, lords 
and dukes, were and are intensely jealous of their 
privileges. In olden times they fought each 
other with mutual disaster, as seen in the case 
of France; to-day both sides find it advisable to 
protect their mutual interests. This applies espe¬ 
cially to semi-absolute countries such as Germany, 
Austria, and England. In Germany, where all 
high government positions are invariably held by 
scions of the old nobility, the prestige of some of 
them is really tremendous, and although politi¬ 
cally the Emperor may and probably would disre¬ 
gard any claims or demands, socially even His 
Majesty has to be extremely careful in interfer¬ 
ing with their respective traditions—traditions 
in many instances going back a good deal fur¬ 
ther than his own! 

Bertram von Ehrenkrug entered and remained 
standing at a salute, two paces inside the door, 
his close-fitting uniform of an officer of the Guard 
Uhlans setting off his tall, remarkably well-knit 
frame. The Emperor, after sharply appraising 
the general appearance of the young officer, re¬ 
turned the salute and, in a pleasant, non-official 
tone: 


54 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

“Stand at ease, Ehrenkrug. Come over here/’ 
pointing to a spot within two feet of himself. 
Turning to the Count, who was standing at his 
right, he commanded: “Begin your examina¬ 
tion, Wedell. ,, 

“It has pleased His Majesty, Your King, to use 
you from now on in a private and confidential 
manner. Your house has served the throne 
faithfully and well for hundreds of years. The 
confidence now placed in you is partly due to your 
family connections, partly to the satisfactory re¬ 
ports received of you. You will have to re¬ 
linquish your military career, but,” with a smile, 
“from all accounts this will not be any great 
sacrifice on your part. I have here a report as 
to your knowledge of languages and other attain¬ 
ments, which I wish to verify. You will answer 
the questions put to you in the language in which 
you are addressed.” 

The Count put his next questions in French, 
English, and Russian, which were promptly an¬ 
swered in a faultless accent. The Emperor, who 
had taken up a document, at this point looked up 
and said: 

“Wedell, I am satisfied. I shall leave the rest 
in your hands.” 


55 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

The Emperor arose, and walking over to von 
Ehrenkrug, placed his arm on the young man’s 
shoulder, saying: 

“Ehrenkrug, I must have men I can trust. 
You will learn that I have to do many things in 
an unofficial way, that I have to issue many un¬ 
official orders; that is why I need men of intelli¬ 
gence and integrity. See to it that you do not 
abuse my need and the trust placed in you. You 
are from now on my personal messenger, ac¬ 
countable only to me, and in my absence to Count 
Wedell. Go now to your home and await instruc¬ 
tions. You are dismissed.” 

Retiring to the door, and saluting, Bertram 
von Ehrenkrug, messenger of the King, went out, 
embarking on a career, the like of which has fallen 
to the lot of few men. In after years he was 
known in the diplomatic circles of a dozen courts 
as “The Stormy Petrel,” for his appearance ever 
heralded coming troubles. 

The already crowded Paris express pulled 
slowly into the Friedrichstrasse station. A large 
crowd of Paris-bound passengers made frantic 
efforts to obtain the remaining seats. A coupe in 
the center of the train, entirely empty, was the 
56 



The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

object of quite a number of would-be travelers, 
who were politely, but firmly, told that this com¬ 
partment was reserved. A most unusual thing, 
this, on Prussian state railways, and a good deal 
of curiosity was expressed; said curiosity being 
answered by shoulder shrugs of phlegmatic 
guards and conductors. The train was almost at 
the point of leaving when a tall young man, his 
great coat buttoned tightly about him, shouldered 
his way through the throng, followed by a high 
railway official. At a sign from the station 
master, the guards, galvanized into sudden life, 
sprang and opened the doors of the reserved 
compartment, and after a whispered conver¬ 
sation between the station master and the 
head guard, the train was permitted to pro¬ 
ceed. 

Bertram von Ehrenkrug, for he was the mys¬ 
terious passenger, made himself comfortable, and 
leaning back into the luxuriously upholstered 
cushions, carefully went over his instructions. 
He felt, naturally, a little concerned at the im¬ 
portance of guarding these well, but their safe 
delivery was the smallest part of his work. 
After he had turned over the Emperor’s dossier 
to the German Ambassador he was to ascertain 
57 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

certain things at the Quai d’Orsay, by which one 
means the diplomatic center of France. The de¬ 
sired information obtained—so his instructions 
ran—he must proceed at once to Cairo. . . . 
Cairo! . . . The seat of the English government 
in Egypt. And as he deciphered the last sheet of 
his instructions—every page was closely written 
in code—he seemed amazed at the contents 
thereof. The stormy petrel was flying before a 
brewing storm. 

Upon his arrival in Paris, Ehrenkrug hired a 
fiacre and was driven to his embassy in the Rue 
d’Lille. After being closeted for a full hour with 
His Excellency, he hurriedly left the building. 
His movements during the next hour, had they 
been observed, would have worried the French 
secret police. After a visit to the Quai d’Orsay, 
where Ehrenkrug seemed to know just where to 
go to get what he wanted, and where, had one 
been passing down the same dark corridor of a 
government building, one might have seen a door 
open and a man, apparently ignoring Ehrenkrug, 
suddenly hand him a white envelope and rapidly 
walk away. One might also have seen Ehren¬ 
krug take this envelope without the slightest 
emotion and after executing some perfunctory 
58 



The Secrets of the Hohenzollems 

business, leave the Quai d’Orsay for the Hotel 
Anglais. There he hurried through his dejeuner , 
for he must catch the first train for Marseilles. 
At Marseilles it was a race from the railroad sta¬ 
tion to the dock. 

Aboard the Messagerie Maritime steamer 
Ville la dot at, bound for New Caledonia, the 
French penal colony south of Australia, he 
watched the city of Marseilles disappearing over 
the stern and smiled a little grimly—or was it not 
a smile of grim friendliness?—which meant that 
he was to be a friend to France. 

Ehrenkrug had no intention of going to the 
penal colony, the steamer’s destination, and when 
the Ciotat arrived at Port Said, the entrance to 
the Suez Canal, he disembarked. Learning that 
the next train for Cairo was not to leave for 
some hours, Ehrenkrug rambled around. 

Port Said has often been described, if a descrip¬ 
tion is possible. The nearest and best descrip¬ 
tion which Bertram had ever read was that of 
Kipling, but even Kipling’s facile pen and lurid 
portraiture is inadequate to describe this cesspool 
of humanity. With the exception, perhaps, of 
Stamboul, Thursday Island, and Vladivostock, 
Port Said is the most blatantly immoral place on 
59 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

earth. European wickedness is here successfully 
grafted on Oriental depravity, producing visible 
results, undreamed of by the most ardent disciple 
of the poppy. During his stay in Egypt, Bertram 
learned the devious ways of this Gomorrah 
rather well, using them to advantage in his fu¬ 
ture dealings with things Asiatic. . . . 

Two men were sitting on the terrace of Shep¬ 
pard’s Hotel in Cairo, the taller of the two easily 
recognized as Bertram von Ehrenkrug; neither 
did the other belie his appearance. Monsieur 
Armand Roneaux was French, distinctly French. 
From his small, daintily lacquered boots to his 
coal black, precisely parted hair, he simply exuded 
Parisian atmosphere. Not an hour ago Ehren¬ 
krug had located this man and handed him the 
message from the Quai d’Orsay. It had the ef¬ 
fect of opening both their confidences, for the 
matter which they were to discuss was of extreme 
importance. 

Ehrenkrug was interestedly watching the antics 
of a motley crowd of guides, dragomen and ven¬ 
dors; Mons. Roneaux, twirling his little black 
mustache, was flirting with a party of rather 
pretty tourists at a near-by table. 

“Diable! Mon cher Comte . We are wasting 
60 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

good time here. Our good friend is keeping us 
waiting.” 

Ehrenkrug, who had noticed his volatile 
friend’s antics, laughingly said: “ It’s a shame, 
Roneaux, to miss such opportunities, eh what? 
But if I’m not mistaken, there’s our man,” nod¬ 
ding in the direction of a gentleman coming up the 
main entrance to the terrace. Roneaux gave his 
companion across the table a searching look, ex¬ 
claiming, “I thought you did not know him, 
Ehrenkrug.” 

“Neither did I, but you gave me a very good 
description, and I’m rather good at picking men.” 

The Frenchman arose and signed to the stran¬ 
ger, who, acknowledging the salute of some pass¬ 
ers-by, joined their table. Ibraham Mander Bey, 
for such the newcomer proved to be, was a strik¬ 
ing representative of the newer Egyptian genera¬ 
tion. His pure Arabian descent was clearly in¬ 
dicated in his fine aquiline features. Well edu¬ 
cated, thanks to a paternal British government, 
he spoke fluent French and English. Since his 
admittance to the Egyptian bar he had become 
quite a power in the land, more so by reason of 
his identifying himself with the rapidly grow¬ 
ing revolutionary party. 

61 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


It seems that one of the penalties of a some¬ 
what too liberal, broadminded administration is 
the ingratitude of the beneficiaries thereof. Men 
of the Bey’s stamp, who but for the generous 
facilities provided by the British colonial govern¬ 
ment in Egypt and India, would still, in all proba¬ 
bility, remain ignorant Fellaheens and Baboos, 
are the first to turn and conspire against the power 
that raised them. Western education planted in 
an Eastern mind is often anything but a blessing 
for both parties concerned, and will some day 
prove dangerous to the former. 

After some cursory conversation, Ibraham 
Mander Bey invited his two companions to his 
home to dinner, remarking that his home was a 
safer place to discuss the weighty matter in hand. 
Following dinner, served in truly Oriental pro¬ 
fusion, the Bey, who made an ideal host, showed 
his guests into an inner courtyard, just the right 
sort of place for a secret and undisturbed meet¬ 
ing, there being no windows or lookholes for any 
possible eavesdropper. Seating his visitors on a 
couple of luxurious divans, the Bey clapped his 
hands and ordered the answering Bashi (serv¬ 
ant) to bring Tshibooks and Mocha, giving him 
at the same time strict orders against any inter- 
62 



ENVER BEY 

Years ago when Enver Bey was an obscure subaltern in the 
artillery, the author, in a report to Berlin, pointed out his 
reckless brilliancy and promise 













V 





















































- 
















. 

















































The Secrets of the Hohenzollems 

ruption. Ehrenkrug, who had spoken very little 
during the dinner, with true Teutonic abruptness 
addressed the Bey: 

“What is the feeling here as to the proposed 
move by France in regard to Upper Egypt?” 

The rather lengthy reply of Mander Bey did 
not seem to Ehrenkrug’s satisfaction, for it drew 
from him the somewhat sharp demand: 

“Something definite, Bey—let us have some¬ 
thing definite. Is there, or is there not, a likeli¬ 
hood of the French project receiving active as¬ 
sistance from your group or the Khedival Party? 
You know where my government stands. You 
can rely on the assistance, if necessary, of Stam- 
boul. You have informed the Khedive of the lat¬ 
est developments. What is his attitude? Come 
now, Bey, let us have a clear understanding. 
This is your opinion, too, is it not, Monsieur 
Roneaux?” turning to the Frenchman, who was 
assiduously drawing at his hubble-bubble , evi¬ 
dently quite willing to let von Ehrenkrug conduct 
affairs. Removing his amber mouthpiece, Ro- 
neaux’s coinciding opinion was evidenced by an 
emphatic “Certainment, certainment, Monsieur 
Ehrenkrug.” 

Having things thus squarely put up to him, 

63 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Mander Beyf finding Oriental prevarication of 
little avail, shrugged his shoulders and replied 
rather peevishly: 

“His Highness, the Khedive, is afraid of Lord 
Cromer. He is in rather good humor with the 
British just now, having been granted an addi¬ 
tional 200,000 piastres by the Government, be¬ 
sides being infatuated with a beautiful English, 
or rather American, lady.” 

“Oh, la, la! encore une autre! qui est cette Belle 
Amie?” (appreciatively from Roneaux). 

“The beautiful Princess Ch-, and oh so 

wealthy! We will,” continued Mander Bey, 
“have very little assistance from the Khedive. 
The Party of the Cause is not willing to do any¬ 
thing without the Sheik ul Islam’s sanction.” 

Ehrenkrug, who had been listening attentively, 
now got up, saying: 

“My thanks, Bey, for your frank avowal of 
the conditions. We expected some such situa¬ 
tion,” and smiling grimly, “that is why I was 
sent here. Your reports of the military strength 
and disposition of the British forces I have for¬ 
warded. Many thanks for your hospitality.” 

After a final glass of sherbet, Ehrenkrug and 
Roneaux left. 


64 



The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Slowly wending their way through the nar¬ 
row, crowded thoroughfares, Roneaux and 
Ehrenkrug discussed the accuracy of Mander 
Bey’s statement, the Frenchman anxiously in¬ 
quiring of his companion his version of the af¬ 
fair. “Frankly, Roneaux, Berlin expected some 
such complication as this. That’s why they sent 
me down here before committing themselves. 
Without the active assistance of Egypt and Tur¬ 
key, the French project in the upper reaches of 
the Nile is doomed to failure, and your magnifi¬ 
cent scheme is likely to end in disaster, especially 
to those entrusted with their execution. How¬ 
ever, your government is too deeply involved to 
pull out now, and it remains to be seen what di¬ 
mensions the affair will take.” He paused and 
as if to verify something before committing him¬ 
self to the agent from the Quai d’Orsay, Ehren¬ 
krug drew the momentous sheet of cipher from 
his pocket. “Monsieur Roneaux,” he declared, 
“I am authorized to assure you that France can 
absolutely rely upon the political support of Ger¬ 
many in this move. Our Emperor knows that 
you have not forgotten the lost provinces. He is 
rather anxious to placate your country. When 
you move against England down here you can 
65 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

be assured of his full support.” . . . Monsieur 
Roneaux seemed immeasurably relieved, and 
when Ehrenkrug proposed, “Now let high politics 
rest for a while and show me Cairo,” Monsieur 
Roneaux eagerly assented. 

Under the able guidance of his confrere, Ehren¬ 
krug made a pretty thorough exploration of the 
Queen of the Nile. There is no other city on 
earth where Orient and Occident blend so har¬ 
moniously without destroying their respective in¬ 
dividualities. More Parisian than Algiers, 
where, strange to say, one finds all nationalities 
but Frenchmen, it is also more truly African than 
any other place on the Dark Continent. Here a 
magnificent thoroughfare, with up-to-date em¬ 
poriums (prices included); over there, a bazaar 
where cobbler and potter make and sell their 
wares as they did in the days of the Pharaohs. 
On one side the latest invention in electric trac¬ 
tion, alongside of it irrigation efforts, hand- 
turned wooden scuppers in use when Moses 
showed his magic to the king. The latest crea¬ 
tions of Poiret and Paquin, or the immaculate 
Bond Street tailored frock coat, rub shoulders 
with Yashmak and Burnous—truly a city of con¬ 
trasts. Here East and West, Kipling notwith- 
66 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

standing, meet in more ways than one; yea and in¬ 
termingle, if the tales one hears from one’s drago¬ 
man bear one single iota of truth. Fair ladies 
who would not dream of going unattended to rep¬ 
utable restaurants in New York, London, or Ber¬ 
lin, do not hesitate at all in Cairo to attend seances 
in places very much the reverse. As there is no 
reason to doubt the same champagne atmosphere, 
sparkling and intoxicating, existed in the days of 
Cleopatra, why blame her over much! 

In the year of grace 1901, the situation 
amongst the leading European powers was more 
than a little peculiar. England was intensely un¬ 
popular just then. She had taken absolute pos¬ 
session of Egypt under the famous ninety-nine 
year lease clause, much in the same manner and 
for the same reasons as Germany took possession 
of Kiao-chau. Through the clever manipulation 
and far-sightedness of a couple of British states¬ 
men, England had gotten the leading interest in 
the Suez Canal, the world’s greatest highway. 
Let it be noted here, as usual, much against the 
will of some of the “old women” at Westminster. 
It had proved itself to be one of the best, if not 
the best, investments Great Britain has ever made. 
Likewise the British control of Egypt was a real 
67 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


blessing to the Egyptian people as a whole, espe¬ 
cially the Fellaheen. Never since the days of the 
Pharaohs was Egypt so well governed or pros¬ 
perous as it is to-day. It does not matter in the 
slightest by what trickery England gained a hold 
upon Egypt or some of her other possessions; the 
fact remains that these countries are immeasur¬ 
ably better off under the Union Jack than they 
were under a flag of their own. 

England’s just and benevolent rule, of course, 
did not suit a certain class of Egyptians who had 
battened and fattened on the ruthless exploitation 
of the Fellaheen, the common people. The 
leader of this discontented faction was Arabi 
Pasha, who cast about for means to start a revolt. 
He was not long in finding it, for the jealousy 
of most of the Continental nations of Europe of 
England’s splendid success in Egypt furnished 
them with the means. It was notably Turkey 
and France, with quiescent German approval, who 
used Arabi Pasha as a cat’s-paw, and promptly 
left him in the lurch when their little scheme 
ended in disaster at Tel-el-Kebir, where the Brit¬ 
ish expedition signally defeated Arabi’s forces. 1 

1 The author met and stayed with Arabi Pasha at Kandy, in 
Ceylon, the place of his exile, where instead of being shot, he 
was sent by the lenient British government. In the course of 
68 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Through Kitchener’s success at Omdurman, 
where he crushed the Mahdi, England was en¬ 
abled to extend her sphere of influence a few 
thousand miles further south. She promptly de¬ 
clared a protectorate over the whole of the 
Uganda region much to the chagrin of the other 
European nations who were casting covetous eyes 
upon the reaches of the upper Nile. 

Italy was still smarting over her defeat by 
Menelik, Emperor of Abyssinia. She attributed 
her reverse mostly to England, and with a good 
deal of reason. The Italian Commander-in- 
Chief, General Baratieri, with his chief of staff, j 
and Generals Albatone and Dabonnida, were de¬ 
cisively defeated on March i, 1896, at Adoua by 
Ras Makonen, the Abyssinian Commander-in- 
Chief. There is not the slightest doubt that the 
Abyssinians could never have defeated such able 
men as the Italian commanders and their heroic 
troops, but for the totally unexpected up-to-date¬ 
ness of their equipment. Sixty thousand Mar¬ 
tini-Henry and Lee-Enfield rifles of the latest pat- 

many conversations the old Arab unburdened himself of incidents 
that threw strange sidelights on the undercurrents at work in 
those days in Europe. At some future date the author may be 
willing to relate some of the confidences of this strange son of 
the desert. 


69 



The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

tern, 3,000,000 rounds of ammunition and twenty 
machine guns, all of British make, had found 
their way into Abyssinia. Decidedly, Italy was 
not friendly to Great Britain. Russia was stick¬ 
ing out her Bear’s paw toward the Persian Gulf. 
Teheran occupied a good deal of time and atten¬ 
tion in the House of Commons. No doubt that 
England was “splendidly isolated.” But Lord 
Kitchener of Khartoum’s masterful handling 
of the Fashoda incident succeeded in making 
France a friend instead of a dangerous enemy— 
and the Emperor’s scheme that brought Ehren- 
krug to Cairo went for naught. Two thousand 
eight hundred miles inland from Cairo, on the 
west bank of the Nile, stands Fashoda. The 
place itself has the usual squalid look and fetid 
stench of inner African trading stations. But 
this little-known, insignificant collection of hov¬ 
els, almost in the center of Africa, was destined 
to make history. 

It was an early July morning in 1898. Three 
fever-stricken white officers, clad in the loose 
white tunics of the French Colonial troops, were 
listlessly lounging in their camp chairs. Outside 
their open tent a sentry, in the uniform of the 
French Senegalese, was guarding the Tricolor 
70 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollems 

drooping from a short staff in front. The eldest 
of the three officers, of medium height, his slight 
frame attenuated to the last possible degree, was 
Captain (now Colonel) Marchand, the hero of 
the unprecedented march across the unknown 
arid and acrid wastes of the Lower Sahara to this 
place on the bank of the Nile. For political rea¬ 
sons this phenomenal march of exploration has 
never received adequate recognition, but if ever 
a man was entitled to the admiration of his fellow 
men for unspeakable privations endured, that 
man was Captain Marchand, his handful of white 
companions, and his faithful Senegalese. 

A black soldier came hurrying toward the tent, 
and saluting his Captain, breathlessly announced 
that a large party was entering the east end of the 
town. The sound of a bugle was heard, and the 
announced party came into view. At the head of 
the column rode an officer on a hardy Berber mule. 
Following him came a half company of Sikhs and 
a full company of the First Sudanese. At a sign 
from the officer in front, his company halted and 
he rode forward. Climbing out of his saddle he 
walked toward the three Frenchmen, who had 
risen, and saluting, inquired, “Captain March¬ 
and ?” The Captain, returning the salute, bowed. 

7i 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


The remarkably tall British officer held out his 
hand, saying: “My name is Kitchener. I think 
we have heard of each other.” 

Interestedly those two men looked at each 
other. Both were men of deeds, both had great 
military achievements behind them. The one in 
Algeria, Oran, and Morocco, the other in the 
Sudan and South Africa. In the prime of 
his splendid manhood, Kitchener’s inscrutable 
bronzed face and steel gray eyes denoted to the 
full the quiet forceful reserve of his race. He 
sat erect in his chair, methodically studying the 
man opposite him. Captain Marchand was lean¬ 
ing back, his legs crossed. An entirely different 
type physically was this wiry little Frenchman, 
but notwithstanding his physical discrepancy, the 
same atmosphere of power and of men who ac¬ 
complish things was noticeable in one as well in 
the other. Lord Kitchener made a sign to one 
of his officers, who handed him a brown leather 
dispatch folder, and taking therefrom an official¬ 
looking document, he addressed the French cap¬ 
tain: 

“The British government, with the understand¬ 
ing and sanction of the Egyptian government, has 
72 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

proclaimed a protectorate over the Sudan, up to 
a point no miles due south of Fashoda. 

“Any encroachment upon the indicated terri¬ 
tory will consequently be viewed as an act of 
hostility. My instructions are to prevent such 
an act of encroachment, or, if actually accom¬ 
plished, to insist upon the withdrawal of any ex¬ 
peditionary force whatsoever.” 

Kitchener paused, as if expecting an answer 
to his statement. Captain Marchand not reply¬ 
ing immediately, the British commander con¬ 
tinued : 

“I am instructed to use force if necessary. As 
a soldier I shall obey my instructions. I trust 
that this will be unnecessary. I am a soldier and 
not a diplomat; but you must see, Captain, that 
your position is untenable. The British Foreign 
Office neither could, nor would, permit any for¬ 
eign power to raise her or their flag over a ter¬ 
ritory which has justly been proclaimed a Brit¬ 
ish protectorate. I shall leave you the document, 
signed by His Royal Highness, the Khedive, 
showing our indisputable right over these regions. 
You have half an hour in which to make your 
decision.” 


73 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollems 

Kitchener rose slowly from his chair, and 
again holding out his hand to Marchand, who had 
also risen, said: 

“As a brother in arms, and as a man who knows 
this country, permit me to express my personal 
admiration of your ability to conduct your party 
thus far.” Saluting, his lordship turned and re¬ 
joined his column. 

Within twenty minutes, one of the French of¬ 
ficers conveyed to the British commander Captain 
Marchand’s willingness to withdraw. It was by 
this time high noon. A torrid equatorial sun was 
flaying the poor quaking earth unmercifully. 
Two lines of soldiers, standing at “Present,” were 
drawn up on either side of the flagstaff in front 
of Captain Marchand’s tent. A command in 
French, a huge sergeant of the Senegalese Tira- 
leurs stepped forward, and slowly the Tricolor of 
France fluttered to the ground. Again a sharp 
command, a Rasseldar of the Sikhs stepped for¬ 
ward, and the Union Jack of England floated in 
place of the emblem of France. 

At a sign from Lord Kitchener, an officer and 
a couple of Sudanese, bearing a short flag pole, 
advanced, and planting the staff alongside the 
other, bent the French flag on to the halyards. 

74 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Kitchener, surrounded by his officers, walked 
towards the French line. Captain Marchand, 
divining his purpose, made a sign to his comrades, 
and advanced also. 

It was then that Kitchner showed the wonder¬ 
ful tact—which might have been his, or which 
might have been inspired by Downing Street— 
and that was to have far reaching effects. 

Under the two flag poles they met. A pull on 
the running lines, and the flags of England and 
France floated peacefully, side by side. A very 
soldierly compliment this, and visibly deeply ap¬ 
preciated by the French officers. It was a peace¬ 
ful solving of a situation surcharged with omin¬ 
ous possibilities. Almost prophetic, in the ad¬ 
vent of latter-day occurrences. 

From the desert the news sped with the swift¬ 
ness of the desert winds to the abode of Ibraham 
Mander Bey; and hours before the hauling down 
of the French flag was known in Paris or London 
it was known in the perfumed courtyard of Ibra¬ 
ham Mander Bey. For only a second did the 
Arab’s eyes betray him as he heard the message 
that the weary fellaheen brought; but Ehrenkrug 
read his disappointment. 

Excusing himself Ehrenkrug went to the cable 
75 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

office; and there followed troubled hours that 
night in the Royal Palais in Berlin, for the Em¬ 
peror had believed that against England the 
sword would be drawn. The cipher report of 
Ehrenkrug said that the French had almost 
seemed to welcome the coming of Kitchener, so 
courteously and with such delicate sentiment had 
their land been taken from them. Then the Em¬ 
peror knew that to him Fashoda was a failure, 
and that instead of the clouds gathering over Eng¬ 
land they were gathering over him. 

He was in his fortieth year now. 


76 


CHAPTER V 


THE TROUBLE MAKERS 

I T is a curious and humiliating truth that after 
these 2000 years of Christianity and in spite 
of our much vaunted civilization and progress, 
the affairs of mankind are often enough directed 
by anybody but those visible heads of the might¬ 
iest nations who claim to have a divinely given 
right to rule. History, which has a strange trick 
of repeating itself, has shown in its annals the 
influence and power of many unscrupulously 
clever men and women. Cleopatra, Lucretia 
Borgia, Marquis de Pompadour, or Catherine 
of Russia, may have no prototypes to-day. True, 
the age of the lettres de cachet and the oubliette 
has gone by. As the adage has it: other times, 
other manners. But the methods are about the 
same, despite the passage of years. 

As the methods of the medieval robber barons, 
who lay in wait behind hedges, taking their toll 
of their fellow men, have changed to the elabo- 
77 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

rate extraction of the last pound of flesh prac¬ 
tised in the modern Wall Street, so have the tac¬ 
tics of the latter-day men and women who play 
roles in governments altered from the crude and 
drastic banquets of death of a Lucretia Borgia 
to the subtle almost unknown and invisible influ¬ 
ence of a Kati Schratt or a Rasputin. 

It is a fact, passing strange and almost inex¬ 
plicable, that the affairs and destinies of the hu¬ 
man race are often swayed by these characters 
who in reality are naught but atoms, obscure, 
seemingly insignificant, and often uneducated 
atoms at that. And it is beyond the understand¬ 
ing of even more than ordinarily intelligent peo¬ 
ple to grasp the possibility of the power and in¬ 
fluence of these individuals who exert a force on 
the whole not dissimilar to that of dark asteroids 
and stars floating in the solar universe. Much 
in the same manner as it has been possible for 
an unknown Irishman from the lower ranks of 
life to gain political mastery of the second largest 
city in the world, do these trouble makers gain 
their sway and become the power behind the 
throne. When the history of this latest outbreak 
of insanity in Europe shall have been inscribed in 
“the big black book of jobs/’ the names of such 
78 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

men and women as Rasputin, Kati Schratt and 
Mrs. Keppel will be found recorded there in im¬ 
perishable letters. 

On a somewhat chilly, blustery May afternoon 
in 1908, the Imperial yacht Hohenzollern was 
met outside Kronstadt in the Gulf of Bosnia by 
the Tsar’s yacht, the Standart. The German 
Emperor was making one of his periodical fly¬ 
ing visits to his brother potentate, the purpose 
of which, having no bearing on this incident, need 
not be mentioned here. As the younger monarch 
invariably pays his respects to the elder ruler 
first, the Tsar’s cutter, with the Tsar, Tsarina, 
the Governor of Kronstadt, and their respective 
suites drew away from the Standart and was 
soon seen approaching the Hohenzollern . In the 
party there was also one Rasputin. 

The cutter of the Tsar was made fast to the 
royal fallrep (companion ladder). It being an 
iron rule that only persons of royal blood or the 
commanding admiral of a fleet are allowed to 
ascend this purple covered stairway, two com¬ 
missioned officers of the German navy were 
standing by for the ceremonials. After they had 
assisted the imperial Russian party from the cut¬ 
ter to the swaying companion ladder, Ehrenkrug 
79 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

saw a thin-faced man in the garb of a cleric at¬ 
tempt to follow. He was Rasputin. 

Without a word two German officers locked 
hands and barred the way. Rasputin pushed 
forward. Placidly the officers pushed Rasputin 
back toward the cutter. A sharp command, and 
it was ordered to proceed to the starboard side of 
the Hohenzollern. Curiously Ehrenkrug watched 
developments. It was part of his business to 
know men like Rasputin and their ways. After 
the imperial suites had been formally introduced 
and the Kaiser and the Tsar had inspected the 
guard of honor, Ehrenkrug saw Rasputin climb 
up the starboard ladder. When he crossed the 
deck the face of the monk was almost blue-black 
with rage. In a convulsion, unable to restrain 
his feelings, he glared at the Kaiser, who was 
standing eight paces away, chatting to the Tsar. 
Ehrenkrug unobtrusively drew near the monk 
and as he did so he heard the Russian say, with 
a grimace at Wilhelm II: 

“Some day you’ll pay for this!” 

Such is the power of Rasputin, a member of 
the black monks of the monastery of St. Innocent 
at Irkutsk. He is an exotic product of that fa¬ 
voritism which can only be seen in its most lux- 
80 



GREGORI RASPUTIN, THE DICTATOR MONK 
He is chaplain of the royal household and the Tsar’s private 
confessor 







The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

uriant growth in the royal courts of Europe. Of 
low birth and breeding, he has to the full the 
Russian peasant’s inborn servile shrewdness. A 
protege of Pobiedonostef, the late Procurator 
of the Holy Synod, he attracted, through the in¬ 
fluence of his mentor, the attention of the Tsar. 
It was not long before the Tsar had made Raspu¬ 
tin chaplain of the royal household, and his own 
private confessor. This began his rapid rise to 
an influential post, a rise that was due to Raspu¬ 
tin’s masterful cleverness over the easily influ¬ 
enced Tsar. 

To understand this one must understand the 
Little Father. Nicholas II is one of the most 
nervous and superstitious men on earth. In 
continuous fear of Nihilistic attacks, and aware 
that his court is honeycombed with intrigue, he 
is thrown into a hysterical state by even such 
small things as a sudden shadow, or an unac¬ 
countable noise. Moreover, his habit of smok¬ 
ing from twenty-four to thirty of the heaviest, 
black and moist Havana cigars per day has not 
been conducive to the alleviation of this nervous¬ 
ness. Rasputin, clever charlatan that he is, soon 
used these weaknesses of his master to his advan¬ 
tage, and it needed only his fortunate manipula- 
Si 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollems 

tion of the illness of the Tsarevitch as a lever to 
make him the most powerful influence in the 
court of the Neva. 

L The Tsarevitch, who from his birth has been 
a weakling and almost a cripple, was unable to 
walk. He had always to be carried about by his 
bodyman, drawn from the Cossacks of the Don, 
of which he is honorary Hettman, or Chief. 
None of the eminent scientists who were called 
in had apparently been able to effect a cure. 
Rasputin did. Whatever the reason for this 
cure—whether it was due to Rasputin’s knowl¬ 
edge of herbs, gained in his sojourn among the 
nomadic semi-Asiatic tribes of central Siberia, 
or the ultimate effect gained by the treatment 
given by the savants, the fact remains that the lad, 
under the care of Rasputin, has gained health 
and strength. This made the Tsarina, whose 
whole life is bound up in the heir apparent, his 
devoted patron. And to such an extent did her 
devotion go that when Rasputin was almost as¬ 
sassinated by a jealous woman on one of his 
visits to Irkutsk, the Tsarina rushed to his bed¬ 
side by special train, and personally supervised 
his nursing. The weapon which was used in the 
82 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

attack is now cherished as a holy ikon, and rests 
under the Tsarina’s pillow. 

Thus gathered the tremendous power of Ras¬ 
putin. From the day he was barred at the royal 
companionway of the Hohenzollern he threw all 
his power into the scale against Germany and all 
things Germanic. Previous to his slight at the 
hands of Wilhelm II, the Teutonic element was 
fairly predominant in Russian affairs, especially 
in the commercial and educational branches. 
Those who know Russia will recall that a few 
years back the leading banks, commercial insti¬ 
tutions, and colleges were generally superin¬ 
tended by Germans. German imports easily to¬ 
taled sixty per cent, of the whole. This situa¬ 
tion soon began to change; gradually the Teu¬ 
tonic element was weeded out from the places of 
honor and trust, and replaced by Frenchmen and 
Russians. It was not long before the German 
secret service chiefs became aware of this chang¬ 
ing condition of affairs. All reports and indi¬ 
cations pointed directly to Rasputin as prime 
mover and cause, but despite convincing proofs, 
the idea of Rasputin influencing the Russian 
court was promptly poo-poohed, especially by the 
83 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


Emperor, a piece of short-sightedness which was 
to cost him dear. 

Similar in form, but different in character, as 
an almost unknown quantity in forging the desti¬ 
nies of her country was Kati Schratt, the daugh¬ 
ter of a well-to-do Viennese merchant. By no 
means beautiful, although of a charming comeli¬ 
ness ; and, by reason of being a thoroughly good 
woman, very sympathetic, she held sway over 
Francis Joseph II for almost forty-five years. 
She was an actress of no mean histrionic ability, 
and from the moment when the Austrian emperor 
first saw her in the title role of one of Wagner’s 
operas, to this day they have maintained an un¬ 
broken friendship. Francis Joseph, singularly 
unhappy in his domestic relations, no doubt here 
found sympathetic atmosphere entirely lacking in 
his own arctic family circle. This remarkably 
keen intelligence of Madame Schratt was relied 
upon to a great extent by the ruler of Austria in 
many personal and national crises, and it is a 
notorious fact, although little known outside of 
certain diplomatic circles, that she is invariably 
consulted by the old emperor. 

It is unfortunate for the peace of Europe that 
84 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

this particular woman, level headed and moderate 
in most other things of life, was obsessed by an 
almost insane hatred of all things Servian. An 
idolized only brother of hers was assassinated in 
one of the periodical Servian upheavals. The 
Balkan States, in somewhat similar fashion as 
do the South American Republics, suffer from a 
chronic affliction in the shape of revolutionary 
rashes. More than once during these upheavals 
have the Servian people had cause to feel the 
fierce, unrelenting hatred of this woman. It was 
her doing that the Austrian emperor supported 
the Bulgarian claims against the Servians in the 
second Balkan war; it was her doing that the 
Austrian emperor sent the harsh ultimatum to 
Servia upon the assassination of the Archduke 
Frederick and his consort. And it was her in¬ 
fluence which prevented many councils of moder¬ 
ation from succeeding with the old emperor. 
Directly or indirectly, this woman, to the great 
mass of humanity unknown, was undoubtedly one 
of the primary factors in precipitating the long 
threatening European struggle. She was, in 
short, an unwitting conspirator against the peace 
of Europe, for Francis Joseph would always 
listen to her counsels, and they were for war. 
85 





The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

The following is an instance of her influence 
upon old Francis Joseph. 

A hurried summons, and Bertram von Ehren- 
krug presented himself at the Royal Palais. For 
hours the Emperor had been in consultation with 
his ministers. They had arrived at a decision. 
Immediate, personal communication must be es¬ 
tablished with Francis Joseph. With intimate 
documents, so important that he was told to 
memorize their contents and destroy them at the 
slightest menace, Ehrenkrug was despatched to 
the Hofburg in Vienna. Knowing it is the 
privilege of the messengers of Wilhelm II to pass 
unchallenged and without delay into the royal 
antechambers, von Ehrenkrug, who was known 
well in the Hofburg, penetrated at once to the 
Emperor’s private domain. Here for the first 
time in his experience he was stopped. The 
usher of the inner chamber told him that His 
Majesty was engaged with Madame Schratt. 
Well knowing the usual length of these tete-a- 
tetes, von Ehrenkrug made use of a ruse: ap¬ 
proaching close to the door of the royal chamber, 
he addressed in stentorian tones an imaginary 
personage: “Important personal messages from 
His Majesty, Emperor Wilhelm.” 

86 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

As he expected, the old emperor heard the com¬ 
motion, but, contrary to expectations, it was Kati 
Schratt who opened the door. “Oh, it is you,” 
exclaimed the lady, who, by the by, had no par¬ 
ticular liking for reasons of her own for Bertram 
von Ehrenkrug. 

Thoroughly versed in undercurrent intrigues, 
he made another bid for the Emperor’s atten¬ 
tion. “Important messages from His Majesty 
Emperor Wilhelm.” 

This time he succeeded in attracting the old 
sovereign’s attention, for he heard a querulous 
voice exclaiming, “What is it, Kati? Can’t we 
have even one undisturbed hour ? ” 

“Nichts besonderes” (nothing particular). 
“You are too fatigued just now. This can wait, 
can it not?” 

“Wie du willst...” (as you wish), was the old 
gentleman’s tired reply, and the door was closed 
in the face of the messenger of Wilhelm II. 

Not until two hours afterward was Bertram 
von Ehrenkrug permitted to deliver his docu¬ 
ments to the tired old emperor. 

There is another class of trouble maker that 
has no direct connection with high or low diplo- 
87 





The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

macy; it is the friends, Belles Amies; or pen¬ 
chants; although having no active bearing on the 
affairs of state these liaisons unwittingly, and 
without the least desire on the part of those con¬ 
cerned, often have far reaching consequences. 
I have in mind a charming woman of plebeian ori¬ 
gin, an American who has gained a wonderful 
success on the operatic stage. I might mention 
other decidedly attractive American women 
coupled with the House of Hohenzollern. My 
reason for selecting the opera singer, however, 
is entirely personal. The effect in the ultimate 
was upon Bertram von Ehrenkrug—a boome¬ 
rang, as you will see upon the Hohenzollerns. 

The association of this lady with the royal 
house of Hohenzollern is truly an illuminating 
bit of human document. At the outset, her re¬ 
markably able portraiture of the Emperor’s fa¬ 
vorite heroines attracted His Majesty’s attention. 
It was inevitable that this artist’s highly mag¬ 
netic personality and her calm restful under¬ 
standing should appeal to the nervous, high- 
strung temperament of William II. A close pla¬ 
tonic camaraderie sprung up between these two: 
platonic, let there be no misunderstanding, in the 
purest sense of the word; for William II after 
88 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

his ascension to the throne became the most 
straight-laced Benedict imaginable. No doubt 
the sweet artistic simplicity of this cultured Amer¬ 
ican girl, untrammeled by court considerations, 
proved a sufficiently pleasing contrast and relaxa¬ 
tion from the stiff and constrained surroundings 
at his castle. His Majesty used to drop in on 
No. 20 Thiergartenstrasse, much in the same 
manner in vogue amongst less exalted mortals. 
He would be received in a quiet unconventional 
manner without any fuss whatsoever. There 
would be present one or two mutual acquaint¬ 
ances, mostly of art circles. The conversation, 
interspersed with music and singing, was always 
of a cosmopolitan character, and, after some light 
refreshments, invariably prepared in chafing- 
dishes, in the preparation of which His Majesty 
took a keen interest—with disastrous results if 
he took a hand in the same!—the Emperor would 
always be the first to leave. 

This idyllic state of affairs received a sudden 
interruption. The Emperor surprised his own 
son, the Crown Prince, at the quarters in the 
Thiergartenstrasse. . . . 

His Majesty suffered from one of his restless 
fits. On such occasions his immediate retinue 
89 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

has got to be prepared for sudden travelings, and 
this night was no exception to the rule. The 
Emperor made up his mind for an early morning 
hunt in one of the well-stocked game preserves 
of the royal Prussian domain. Soon three motor 
cars were speeding along the Grosse Alle of the 
Thiergarten. In the first motor there is invari¬ 
ably one of the Emperor’s trusted confidential 
agents. The next car is occupied by the Em¬ 
peror and any of his personal friends whom he 
invites to these parties. The last car contains 
attendants of the royal household. They were 
well on the road toward Charlottenburg when the 
Emperor, in one of his characteristic changes of 
mood, decided to pay a visit to No. 20. The cars 
were turned about and soon were traveling along 
Thiergartenstrasse. The Secret Service agent in 
the front car recognized a familiar motor car out¬ 
side the mansion occupied by the lady in question, 
and foreseeing some serious consequences, made 
use of the discreet ruse of dashing past the resi¬ 
dence. It was his intention to give the parties 
concerned an opportunity to beat a strategic re¬ 
treat. But the absence and inattention of the 
chauffeur frustrated his plan. The cars had 
90 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

gone about two hundred meters past the house 
when there came a peremptory order from the 
second car to stop. 

“What zum Teufel is the meaning of this? 
Back!” 

When eventually the party stopped in front of 
No. 20, the Emperor immediately recognized the 
strange car and, without waiting to be announced, 
stalked past the porter's lodge into the house. 

Here occurred a family scene by no means con¬ 
fined to the sphere of ordinary mortals. The 
Emperor found his son, the Crown Prince Fred¬ 
erick William, evidently very much at home. His 
temper, at all times easily ignited, there and then 
gave vent to a volcanic explosion. 

“Du Schafskopf (muttonhead), what's the 
meaning of this? What are you doing here?” 

“That's no concern of yours,” was the rather 
nonchalant princely answer. It infuriated the 
old man still further. 

And right there history repeated itself. A 
previous heir apparent to the Prussian throne, 
Frederick the Great, on a memorable occasion 
experienced parental wrath in the shape of hav¬ 
ing his flute on which he was tooting broken over 
9i 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

his head. In this instance, the Emperor hauled 
off and planted a resounding whack on the left 
side of his son’s proboscis. His Royal Highness 
was placed under arrest by his father and within 
forty-eight hours took up his duties as a colonel 
of the famous Death Head Hussars in Danzic. 
Milady, at about the same time, returned to her 
own country, where she is still residing. 

Witnesses of royal fracases at any time are in 
a peculiarly dangerous and unthankful position. 
Bertram von Ehrenkrug, who happened to be the 
Secret Service agent present on this occasion, ex¬ 
perienced to the full the bitter animosity of His 
Imperial Highness, who without reason, laid the 
blame for the sudden appearance of his father on 
Ehrenkrug’s shoulders. In the highest stratum 
of life, Rider Haggard’s phrase, “It is not good 
to know the Thing, too much,” gains added sig¬ 
nificance. 

And Bertram von Ehrenkrug is no longer in 
the secret diplomatic corps of Germany because 
of this woman; and because of this woman there 
has been published to the world the things which 
the world has read of the House of Hohenzol- 
lern—which is the author’s one reason for dis¬ 
closing the affair. 


92 



FREDERICK WILLIAM, CROWN PRINCE 
Das Unbeschriebene Blatt (the Unwritten Page ) 


















The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Episodes of this character and description are 
by no means confined to any individual royal 
house or government. In all courts and seats of 
government, with the possible exception of 
America and Japan, women are still master in¬ 
triguers, and in no country is this more true than 
in England and France. The court of St. James 
has always been more or less petticoat ridden, and 
it is an open secret in diplomatic circles that in the 
reign of Edward VII most appointments in the 
gift of the King were bestowed through the ef¬ 
forts of a number five and a half glove. 

Such men as Chamberlain, Lord Kitchener, 
and Admiral Fisher have all felt the adverse in¬ 
fluence of women, for none of these three truly 
great men has ever been able to truckle or cater 
to court favorites. Great Britain is indeed for¬ 
tunate that the ultimate decision lies with her 
people through the Houses of Parliament; still 
it is rather deplorable that it requires times of 
stress and danger such as this present European 
struggle to bring such men into their own. 

Wilhelm II, up to the death of Queen Victoria, 
was quite the rage in England. As the eldest 
grandchild of the queen he was much petted by 
her; but his uncle, Edward, even as Prince of 
93 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Wales never had any too much time for his im¬ 
perial nephew. The Bohemian, easy-going 
seventh Edward was a shrewd judge of men and 
horses. His quiet, tactful manner and way of 
living was directly antagonistic to the Emperor’s 
restless and bombastic personality. It needed 
only one of the Emperor’s periodical outbreaks of 
more than usual tactlessness to make of his uncle 
an almost open enemy. Unluckily, the Emperor 
was not slow in providing just such an occa¬ 
sion. 

During the Cowes Week in 1904, the Emperor 
and King Edward one evening were the guests 
of honor on Sir Thomas Lipton’s yacht. Among 
the others present was the Hon. Mrs. Keppel. 
The talk naturally converged about the events of 
the day, and the Emperor, much elated over the 
victory of his yacht Meteor, bragged a good deal. 
The Hon. Mrs. Keppel, taking up the cudgels 
of one of her relations who had commanded one 
of the defeated vessels, incurred the displeasure 
of the Emperor by her able witticisms. The un¬ 
fortunate habit of the Emperor’s of talking first 
and thinking afterwards once again upset the 
frying pan; for he delivered himself of the fol¬ 
lowing by no means delicate rejoinder: “Huh! 

94 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

madame, by all accounts you ought to know more 
about sailors than sails!” 

Mortified to tears, the lady rose and with char¬ 
acteristic English dignity withdrew. King Ed¬ 
ward, who was talking to Sir Thomas on another 
part of the deck, had noticed that something dis¬ 
pleasing had occurred. On being told the cir¬ 
cumstances, he called his nephew into the chart 
house and evidently gave him an avuncular piece 
of his mind. At all events, the Kaiser next 
morning left in a huff. At the time there was 
much speculation as to the misunderstanding be¬ 
tween the two royal houses. This incident, how¬ 
ever, is the real cause for the widened breach be¬ 
tween King Edward and William II. The Hon. 
Mrs. Keppel and her clique had a great deal of 
influence with King Edward and his court. She 
became an implacable enemy of the Kaiser s. 
The result of this animosity is felt to this day, 
for Earl Grey, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs 
in England, was one of her proteges and in every 
way he shared her intense hatred of all things 
German. 

Still another instance of how women con¬ 
sciously or unconsciously can become trouble 
makers is an episode in the career of the Empress 
95 






The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Eugenie. When Ferdinand de Lesseps com¬ 
pleted the Suez Canal, the Khedive of Egypt in¬ 
vited all the sovereigns to attend the opening cere¬ 
monies. Napoleon III, then in the zenith of his 
power, sent his wife Eugenie, called the Empress 
of the French, as his representative. Frederick 
William, King of Prussia, sent his son, Frederick, 
the Crown Prince of Prussia, who afterward be¬ 
came Frederick III, Emperor of Germany, as his 
envoy. Eugenie, who was one of the most beau¬ 
tiful women of her day and at that time at the 
height of her charm, captivated and in turn was 
smitten with the Crown Prince of Prussia. 
They became infatuated to such an extent that 
even the lax and prodigal Khedive deemed it ad¬ 
visable to abrogate the festivities. On returning 
to Prussia, the Crown Prince found ways of get¬ 
ting to Paris many times, of course always travel¬ 
ing incognito . On one of these occasions, Eu¬ 
genie, no doubt tired by then of his attention, 
gave him the cold shoulder. 

It was at one of those magnificent semi-private 
balls at the Tuileries that she refused to dance 
with the Crown Prince, who for the time being 
was known as the Comte de Bourg. Somewhat 
astounded at the sudden change in attitude, the 
96 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Crown Prince insisted that she dance. She re¬ 
plied over her shoulder, “Who is the Comte de 
Bourg that he thinks he can compel the Empress 
of the French ?” 

“Comte de Bourg to-night cannot compel any¬ 
body,the Prince replied in a passion, “but Fred¬ 
erick of Prussia can and will.” 

“Alone, monsieur?” came the taunting query. 

“No, madame; if need be, at the head of a mil¬ 
lion men.” 

Two years after a million German bayonets 
surrounded Paris. The Crown Prince, up to 
that time opposed to Bismarck’s policy of aggres¬ 
sion against France, being rather sympathetic to¬ 
ward that country, over night, however, became 
a stanch supporter of the Iron Chancellor. And 
his signal successes in the Franco-Prussian War 
were one of the main reasons for the quick over¬ 
throw of the third Napoleon. 

Because another Crown Prince, Frederick Wil¬ 
helm, became involved with another woman of 
France there followed the Zabern incident, when 
a German officer was inspired to slash a French 
cobbler with his sword. It happened in the 
spring of 1914 in a frontier village in Alsace, and 
it ran through France like wildfire, bringing that 
9 7 







The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


old desire for revenge over the “lost provinces” 
to a white heat. It almost brought war. The 
Crown Prince wanted war, but the Emperor did 
not. The Emperor was not ready, besides the 
Crown Prince was not forty, and history shows 
that before a Hohenzollern reaches forty he is 
apt to run amuck. So the Emperor smoothed 
over the Zabern incident and reprimanded the 
Crown Prince, who, unlike his famous predeces¬ 
sor of the days of the last Napoleon, is still wait¬ 
ing to march to Paris at the head of a million 
men. The old, shrewd Teutons who laid down 
the greatest secret of the Hohenzollerns, that 
they could not go to war before they were forty, 
mandated well, for in his calm, mature power, 
Wilhelm II was biding his time. He was getting 
ready for the day—there was still much to be 
done, but when the day did come he would shake 
Europe as no monarch had ever shaken it before. 


98 


CHAPTER VI 


THE MASTER HAND 

B OOM—boom, boom! 

To the somewhat irregular salute of 
Turkish warships, the Imperial yacht Hohenzol- 
lern, looking like a white seagull amidst a swarm 
of grimy and rather unkempt Ottoman war craft, 
came majestically to an anchor. A gorgeously 
gilded barge, with priceless Smyrna rugs float¬ 
ing in the water behind, propelled by forty-eight 
pairs of brawny arms, swept toward the Royal 
fallrep. The oarsmen were clad in spotless 
white koumashes, with scarlet sashes; their head- 
gear, the fez, surmounted by a solid gold tassel. 
Abdul Hamid, Sultan of Turkey, Padisha of all 
true believers, was welcoming Wilhelm II, King 
of Prussia, Emperor of Germany. 

As the thunder of the precise return salute of 
the Hohenzollern crashed across the marvelously 
clear blue Bosphorus, the Sultan with his Grand 
Vizier and his magnificently attired retinue as- 
99 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

cended to the deck, to be received by the Emperor 
and his staff. 

What a field of study for an anthropologist! 
On one side, tall, clean-limbed, Viking-like sail¬ 
ors, picked men of the German navy, looking fit 
in their plain, spotless, serviceable uniform; on 
the other, undersized, overfed, sickly Orientals, 
their uniforms all the colors of the rainbow, and 
smothered in gold lace. On one side, representa¬ 
tives of a virile, hardy, commercial people; on the 
other, subjects of a decadent, luxuriously somno¬ 
lent, semi-Asiatic power. 

The Emperor, in the neat, full-dress uniform 
of an admiral, his sun-tanned face alight with 
virile mentality, made a striking contrast to his 
under-sized, portly, sleepy-looking, goggle-eyed 
brother potentate. After the presentation of the 
Sultan to the Empress, and their respective suites, 
the cutter of the Hohenzollern was smartly piped 
away, and the royal parties, amidst the renewed 
salute of guns, left for the Golden Horn, to be 
received by the most enthusiastic acclamations 
ever accorded an infidel ruler. 

The royal parties landed, and after a grand 
banquet in the Seraglio (the Sultan’s palace in 
Pera) the Empress and her suite returned to the 
ioo 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Hohenzollern. The Emperor and the Sultan 
went in state to the Grand Moshee (Mosque), 
harboring some of the most revered relics of Mo¬ 
hammed, and, outside of Mohammed's tomb at 
Mecca, the chief place of pilgrimage for all true 
believers. The two monarchs were splendidly 
mounted on milk-white Arabian stallions of the 
famous Jhidna breed, with pedigree as long as 
their tails, the Emperor now wearing the uni¬ 
form of a Turkish general, even to the red fez. 
Riding slowly through the vast, madly-clamoring 
throng, they dismounted in front of the Moshee. 
The deep mellow tones of a large gong were 
heard, and, dying away, there came the plaintive 
soul-searching cry of the Muezzins (or Mued- 
din) perched high above the multitude in the pic¬ 
turesque minarets. “Allah il Allah-sefka il Mo¬ 
hammed A Instantly all clamor ceased, and turn¬ 
ing their faces towards Mecca, the mass pros¬ 
trated themselves. 

Received by the Sheik el Islam, the Emperor, 
his boots first covered (at his own request) with 
slippers, entered the dimly lighted Moshee. A 
unique incident this: William II, the most 
powerful Christian monarch of the day, lineal 
descendant and successor of the very princes who 

IOI 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

in ages past had fought with all their might the 
power of the Crescent, walking side by side with 
the Sultan of all Islam into a Mohammedan 
Holy of Holies! The Emperor, either out of 
his deeply ingrained reverence and tolerance for 
all things religious, or, for reasons of his own, 
acted so circumspectly that at the end of his visit 
he was presented with the green scarf of an 
Hadji, the greatest Turkish token of reverence 
and esteem, and only permitted to those who have 
made the pilgrimage to Mecca. This, natu¬ 
rally, has given the Emperor a tremendous hold 
amongst the Turks, and has more than once been 
made capital use of, especially in this present 
struggle, where Turkish troops have been told 
that the Kaiser has turned Mohammedan. The 
troops of Turkey, still being largely religious 
fanatics, are more likely to obey and endure the 
officers of a supposed true believer than a western 
Giaour . 

The spectacular tour of Wilhelm II and his 
Consort to Turkey and the Holy Land was, at the 
time, much criticized at home and abroad; never¬ 
theless, it was in reality one of the most deeply 
thought out, almost genius like coups the Em¬ 
peror had ever acomplished. Previous to his 
102 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

visit, the predominant power at the Sublime 
Porte was France. Not alone Turkey, but the 
whole of the Mussulman countries looked toward 
France as their chief protector. Later events 
have shown conclusive proof that France was 
ousted from this position, the German assuming 
the role of protector-in-chief. The immediate 
result was a closer political understanding be¬ 
tween the Ottoman and German empires, a large 
influx of German merchandise, the buying of 
$100,000,000 worth of German war material, the 
reorganization of the Turkish military system 
by German Staff officers, and last, but not least, 
the concession for the much disputed Bagdad 
railway. It has been said, and with much reason, 
that the best commercial traveler Germany ever 
had was the Kaiser himself. 

European diplomatic circles were in a turmoil. 
Conditions were indeed very unsettled. Austria 
had seized Herzegovina and Bosnia, ignoring 
Russia’s objections and muttered threats, feeling 
secure in Germany’s support. She had every 
reason for so doing. Wilhelm II had told the 
Russian Ambassador that he would brook no in¬ 
terference in the Austrian policy of occupation. 

103 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Besides, the Kaiser, in his usual dramatic fashion, 
had publicly announced that he would, if neces¬ 
sary, appear “in shining armor” on the side of 
Austria. At the time, Russia had to take this 
rather drastic ultimatum as best she could. In¬ 
ternal troubles, and the serious reverses she had 
received in the East, left her in no position for 
active inteference. But the humiliation rankled 
deep, and your Muskovite, true to his semi-Asia¬ 
tic origin, never forgives nor forgets. This af¬ 
fair was to bear bitter fruit in the future; as yet, 
Russia bided her time. 

The balance of power in Europe had under¬ 
gone a sudden change. Russia, if not actually 
feared, was up till then treated with a good deal 
of circumspection by Germany. The disaster to 
Russian arms in the Far East and the general 
internal fiasco, changed this attitude completely. 
Germany, free from any possible Russian inter¬ 
ference, promptly made use of these favorable 
conditions. The result was the acquisition of the 
above-mentioned territory by the Dual Monarchy. 
Unable at this time to back up her opposition by 
force of arms, Russia cast about for means to re¬ 
gain her lost power and prestige. In the chronic 
unsettled state of the Balkans she found means 
104 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

ready to her hand. King Alexander II of Serbia 
was becoming very unpopular in his own country; 
his own idiotic behavior, and the flagrant indis¬ 
cretions of Queen Draga by no means endearing 
him to his people. If anything was wanted to 
push him off his already tottering throne, his 
flirting with Austria supplied it. He was not 
only obnoxious to his own people, but positively 
dangerous to Russian influence in the Balkans. 
The Obrenovich had to go. 

On the evening of June io, 1903, a dozen men 
were sitting in the back room of a squalid ginmill 
in the Ulitza Skymirz (street of the hill) in Bel¬ 
grade. The Restaurazia Czarny Pies (Black 
Dog) was well named, for it looked and smelled 
like a dog’s kennel. Without exaggeration, one 
could 

“Count two and seventy separate stenches, 

All well defined, and several stinks.” 

It was a place well chosen for the dark plot 
about to be hatched. At one end of the rough 
table sat Nicholai Mashin, Colonel of the Sixth 
Regiment, an unkempt, bull-necked brute of the 
bibulous, swashbuckling type of bygone days. On 
either side of him were three of his officers, of a 

105 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

like ilk, their round bullet-shaped, narrow-bridged 
heads, close-set eyes and high cheek bones denot¬ 
ing a low, yet cunning, intelligence. A man of 
quite a different stamp was Lieutenant-Colonel 
Niglitch, dark, aristocratic, and, but for his coal 
black sinister eyes, not unpleasant looking. On 
his right sat one who was evidently his mentor: 
a suave, smiling, insistent-mannered gentleman, 
obviously a foreigner, but seemingly very much 
at home in the various different languages used 
at this polyglot round table. Basilovitch Sem- 
koff, without doubt, was the most adroit and un¬ 
scrupulous agent of the Russian government in 
the Balkans. All excepting Semkoff had been 
drinking freely, and were talking at the top of 
their voices. Mashin, who had vainly endeav¬ 
ored to get them to listen, now jumped up and lay¬ 
ing hold of a bottle of cognac, smashed it on the 
table. Amidst a shower of vile epithets he bel¬ 
lowed an order. The noise quieting down, he 
addressed Niglitch, “Have you received the 
money ?” 

“Part of it only,” was the reply. 

On hearing this, Mashin, his red face instantly 
taking on a purple tinge, brought his fist down 
106 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

upon the table, and, yelling at Semkoff, demanded 
to know what the-that meant. 

The Russian blandly informed him that, ac¬ 
cording to their understanding, the rest of the 
money would be handed over after the affair was 
finished. Muttering and growling, Mashin or¬ 
dered a general meeting at midnight in the bar¬ 
racks of the Sixth regiment. Then shouting wild 
threats, heedless of listeners, the conspirators dis¬ 
persed. 

Never in all history was a dynasty overthrown 
by a sorrier-looking crew than this. It speaks 
volumes for the state in which the Balkans in 
general, and Serbia in particular, were sunk previ¬ 
ous to the Balkan wars. Fate often makes use of 
queer and brutal tools! 

There was much drink, cheap and otherwise, to 
be had for the asking at the barracks of the Sixth 
regiment of the Serbian army. It was asked for. 
Close on the hour of midnight the whole of the 
2,000, mostly ignorant loutish soldiers, were in a 
state fit to do anything their commanding officers 
might choose to bid. And they were bade. 

The royal residence in Belgrade stands on a 
sloping hill in the east center of the city. Thither 
107 



The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

the mob hurried. The outer sentries guarding 
the approaches of the castle, consisting of a half 
company of this infamous Sixth regiment, care¬ 
fully and especially chosen, put no obtsacle in the 
way of the drunken party ascending the slope to 
the royal residence. The inner watch, picked 
men of the royal bodyguard, were true to their 
honor, and promptly paid it with their life's blood. 

Pandemonium broke loose. With drawn 
swords and cocked Mauser pistols, the drunken 
squad hacked and shot their way over the faith¬ 
ful few into the inner chambers of the King and 
Queen. Whatever is said of Alexander, with or 
without reason, one thing must be conceded: in 
the most desperate hour which can befall a hu¬ 
man being, he acquitted himself like a man. 
When the madly inflamed, murderous mob burst 
into the chamber where he was sitting with Queen 
Draga, he shielded his wife with true manhood. 
The Queen, clad in the flimsiest of dishabille, fled, 
terror-stricken, into a small antechamber. Alex¬ 
ander had dropped his glasses, and, being short¬ 
sighted, stupidly stared at the intruders. Al¬ 
though they had come for a definite purpose, with 
murder in their hearts, such is the ingrained 
power of constitutional and hereditary authority 
108 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

over even wildly infuriated human emotions, that 
when he demanded an explanation of this out¬ 
rageous conduct, the score of assassins had noth¬ 
ing to say. 

The King, peering into their faces, recognized 
Colonel Mashin, and advancing towards him 
raised his hand. At this moment one of the offi¬ 
cers, probably more intoxicated than the rest, 
fired point blank at his monarch, wounding him in 
the right cheek. The sight of blood acted on the 
rest as it would on a pack of wolves. With up¬ 
lifted swords they advanced on the King, who re¬ 
treated into the antechamber where Queen Draga 
was cowering. She was crouching behind a low 
divan. Two devils in human shape sprang for¬ 
ward and dragging her by the hair across the 
couch, thrust their swords again and again into 
her body. At the same instant another cleaved 
the skull of the King. Every one present stabbed 
and hacked at these two bleeding figures, all save 
one, who, refusing to do so, was promptly cut 
down. Not satisfied with killing their victims, 
these fiends perpetrated nameless indignities on 
the poor mutilated bodies and then threw them 
out of the window. The two mangled forms, 
once a king and a queen, lay in the courtyard all 
109 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

night until some sorrowing retainers took them 
into a near-by hovel. History has truly a strange 
way of repeating herself. 

With the elimination of Alexander II, Russian 
influence in Serbia became all powerful. Rus¬ 
sian agents and Russian gold were everywhere. 
The visit of the Crown Prince of Serbia to Sofia, 
the Bulgarian capital, engineered by Russia, was 
a masterstroke of diplomacy. It brought about 
an active and workable understanding between 
Bulgaria and Serbia. Only in Rumania did she 
meet with failure. Vienna and Berlin found it 
necessary to make a counter move. 

A Balkan alliance, under dominance of Russia, 
was not at all fitting to their scheme of diplomacy. 
And after the Balkan War, the German Emperor 
shrewdly estranged Bulgaria and Serbia, precipi¬ 
tating the conflict that weakened all the Balkans. 

But to go back: Wilhelm II, like his great an¬ 
cestor, Frederick the Great, has always shown a 
distinct penchant for France. This, however, 
had not prevented the latter from fighting France 
when he thought it of advantage to do so, and 
there is no reason to think that the former also 
would neglect any favorable opportunities. At 
present, the Kaiser saw fit to make distinct over- 


no 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

tures to France, tacitly, condoning French expan¬ 
sive movements in Algeria, Tunis, and the French 
Congo. This attitude, and the growing distrust 
in England toward Germany, was to bring about 
an entire change in the European situation. 
Great Britain, which had been gradually pushed 
into a “splendid isolation,” found this position, 
if splendid, anything but reassuring. 

It was indeed fortunate for England that Ed¬ 
ward VII was on the throne. This quiet, Bo¬ 
hemian gentleman, justly named the “King of 
Tact,” knew France and was liked there as no 
other Englishman or potentate ever had been. 
Behind the debonnair, easy-going affability of 
King Edward lay a vast amount of keen penetra¬ 
tion and inflexible purpose. It was he who took 
his imperial nephew’s measure, and correctly, as 
events have proven. On the historic occasion of 
Emperor Wilhelm II being presented with the 
freedom of the City of London, King Edward, 
then Prince of Wales, presided. It was at the 
famous old Guildhall that the Emperor, just 
after being presented with the scroll in its golden 
casket, remarked in a jocular, and somewhat tact¬ 
less, manner to the Prince of Wales: 

“You have made the city free to me. What if 
hi 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

I come and take it ?” Quite contrary to his usual 
tactful toleration of even bad-quality jokes, Ed¬ 
ward, Prince of Wales, looking his nephew 
straight between the eyes, replied: 

“Never, my son, if ever I am king.” 

One fine May morning in 1906, Edward VII, 
King of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of 
India, quietly crossed the Channel and paid a visit 
to President Emile Loubet of France. The visit 
was quiet and unostentatious, no rousing or em¬ 
phatic speeches being made. King Edward man¬ 
aged to give it the appearance of a joy excursion, 
and as such it was treated by the courts of Berlin 
and Vienna, and consequently did not arouse their 
always uneasy apprehension to any extent. 
When, however, the French president went on a 
voyage to the Baltic, and there met the Tsar of 
Russia, things began to take on quite a different 
aspect. It soon became evident that an under¬ 
standing existed between England, France, and 
Russia; an almost incredible understanding, for 
had not England enticed and assisted Japan in 
fighting Russia? Nevertheless, King Edward’s 
master diplomacy gave birth to the Entente Cor- 
diale. The Triple Entente was a Fait Accom- 
plis. England’s dangerous isolation was a thing 
112 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

of the past. Now began diplomatic intrigue and 
juggling of a virulent intensity for the master¬ 
ship of Europe. On one side the Kaiser, Em¬ 
peror Franz Josef, and Victor Emmanuel; on the 
other, Edward VII, the President of France, and 
the Tsar of Russia. The balance of power was. 
too evenly distributed for either side to risk the 
throw of the iron dice. Hence the efforts of both 
sides to outdo or outbid each other. . . . 

The Emperor’s car was racing at even more 
than its usual speed through the streets of Berlin. 
Arrived at the Wilhelmstrasse, the German for¬ 
eign office, His Majesty sprang out of the ma¬ 
chine and hastened up the flight of steps leading 
in to Count von Wedell’s chambers. Ushers, 
clerks, and secretaries slunk out of his path, for 
the Emperor’s close compressed lips and furrowed 
brow gave an added savage expression to his al¬ 
ways stern face. The violent ringing of a bell 
brought a quaking usher into the Count’s study. 

“Where’s His Excellency? Summon the 
Count immediately,” were the orders shouted at 
him. 

Without noticing his Secret Service Chief’s 
apologies, the Emperor demanded: 

113 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

“Wedell, where’s Ehrenkrug? Have him 
brought here at once. Also get me Tapken. I 
want Ehrenkrug to go to Belgrade. I suppose 
you know what has happened.” Without paus¬ 
ing for an answer, the Emperor, banging his fist 
on the desk, continued: 

‘They over there” (referring to his Chancel¬ 
lory) “are either badly informed, or are trying 
to keep me in the dark, but I will know”—still 
passionately pounding the desk—“what is going 
on. These murders down there were instigated 
by some one. You’ve got to find out by whom. 
My ever-careful cabinet suggest diplomatic in¬ 
quiries. What do these amount to? I am in the 
dark as to what is going on down there, but we’ll 
find out, and then let those who are responsible 
look to themselves.” 

The Emperor paused, seating himself heavily 
in an armchair. Wedell, in the meantime, had 
quietly transmitted the Emperor’s command for 
the appearance of Ehrenkrug and Tapken. Now 
he queried, “Where does Your Majesty wish to 
meet them ?” 

“Have them here at the usual hour. Wedell, 
they are trying to isolate me, but we’ll see, Beim 
Herrgott (by the Lord God), we’ll see.” 

114 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

The Emperor was on his feet again, walking 
like a caged tiger up and down the room, mutter¬ 
ing to himself, now and again raising his fist. So 
violent was his temper that even Wedell, accus¬ 
tomed as he was to his master’s vagaries, was. 
more than a little alarmed. He, best of all men, 
knew what this human dynamo was capable of 
doing. This single human being, acknowledging 
responsibility only to himself and God, on mo¬ 
ments like these even relegating the Deity into a 
temporary background, was a terrible factor, not 
only in the lives of his sixty million subjects, but 
of the whole of Europe. Firmly believing in the 
destiny of his country to be the leading nation of 
Europe, he held an equally firm belief in his des¬ 
tined mastership, for was he not War Lord of 
Europe? But there were obstacles in the way. 
So far, all was tranquillity. No Adagir incident 
had occurred, and the fateful journey of the Aus¬ 
trian heir apparent and his wife was yet to be 
made. But low down on the edge of the horizon, 
dark and sinister clouds were banking, and inter¬ 
mittent forks of lightning were cleaving the black, 
forbidding mass. 

Who was to be Master of Europe? The an¬ 
swer is buried deep in the bowels of Fate. 

IT 5 


CHAPTER VII 

THE COUNT OF HOHENECK 

A FTER the Emperor’s success- in compelling 
the retirement of M. Th. Delcasse, thus re¬ 
moving for the time being the strongest anti- 
Germanic influence in France, His Majesty 
thought this an opportune time to make a strong 
bid for the approbation of the French public. 
Forthwith Frenchmen of letters, journalists, lit¬ 
terateurs and artists were invited, cordially re¬ 
ceived, and lavishly entertained in Germany. 
The Emperor spent large sums out of his private 
schatulle for the production of German, especially 
Wagnerian, operas and dramas in Paris. French 
women, Dames dn Salon, idolized leading ac¬ 
tresses and the queens of the demimonde were 
cleverly won over to assist a general Germanic 
propaganda. That the inborn tact and finesse 
of these French women still play a great role in 
the public life of France, is nowhere more clearly 
understood than at the Wilhelmstrasse. Clean- 
116 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

cut officers of the aristocratic crack guard regi¬ 
ments were given furlough in batches; in many 
cases when their own private means proved in¬ 
sufficient, their purses were lengthened and 
strengthened in an unusually generous manner by 
the Wilhelmstrasse. The only stipulation as to 
the duration of stay or the expenditure of money 
was that the same must be spent in Paris or the 
fashionable watering places of France. Paris 
soon swarmed with Prussian officers in mufti. 
To an onlooker it was an amusing sight to see the 
dainty petitely svelt Parisienne escorted by the 
easily distinguished Prussian guardsmen. More 
amusing still it was to watch the disgusted com¬ 
ically ferocious expression and twirling of mus¬ 
taches of the boulevardiers and flanneurs. Tak¬ 
ing it by and large, the Emperor’s clever scheme 
promised “to get across.” 

The French Cabinet, which was suffering from 
one of its perennial internal dissensions, was still 
further undermined by the manipulations of the 
Wilhelmstrasse. The ever-present royalist party 
and movement in French politics were cautiously 
nursed along. The whole situation was ripe for 
a coup d'etat. But for the hair-brained, head¬ 
long impetuosity of The Orleans there might have 
ii 7 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

been floating to-day the Fleur de Lis instead of 
the tricolor over the Tuileries. 

But William II was quite alone in this effort 
to win the sympathy of his neighbor to the west. 
There were influences in his own court circle and 
family that strongly opposed anything French. 
They looked for a final subjugation; he looked for 
a strengthening of friendly relations through 
which his will would be exerted to attain those 
aims of influence and power. That the task de¬ 
volved upon him and him alone will shortly be 
seen. . . . 

Three men were toiling up one of the steep 
crags of the Tyrolean Alps. They were after 
chamois, the king of European game, and they 
were hunting in the Fiirst zu Furstenburg game 
preserves, noted for its abundance in chamois. 
Arriving on a little plateau overlooking and giv¬ 
ing a clear view of the valley beneath, their Al- 
pensteiger called a halt, and opening their Ruck¬ 
sacks, they began munching their luncheon. 
Their sport had evidently been successful for the 
two hunters proudly displayed two fine Gemsbdrte 
(the brush under the chin of a chamois) on their 
Tyrolese hats. 

118 



THfiOPHILE DELCASSfi 
The strong man of France and the Kaiser’s pet aversion 










The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Far down the valley a shot rang out. After 
a tense scrutiny of the pass below, their keen- 
sighted guide announced that the firer of the shot 
was a Furstenburg retainer, evidently trying to 
locate them. 

“Lend me your glasses, Ehrenkrug.” 

Clapping the hunting binoculars to his eyes, 
young Wolfgang zu Furstenburg exclaimed, 
“Donnerwetter! He’s right! I wonder what’s 
up.” 

Ehrenkrug, who was stretched out full length 
on the soft green moss, lazily rolled over, saying, 
“Why, bother? If he doesn’t find us we needn’t 
worry.” 

Two more shots rang out and a white handker¬ 
chief was waved down below. 

“Zum Teufel auch, it’s too late. He’s seen us 
now.” 

Picking up his Pirschbiichse (a long hunting 
gun used especially for chamois) he fired an an¬ 
swering shot. Idly speculating what the send¬ 
ing of a special messenger into this wilderness 
might mean, they awaited his arrival. 

After a toilsome climb the breathless messenger 
handed Bertram von Ehrenkrug a stout blue en¬ 
velope with “Urgent” written on it in red ink. 

119 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

As soon as Ehrenkrug clapped eyes on the mis¬ 
sive, he became galvanized into action, and with 
a muttered “Damn, they’ll find you even in Hell,” 
tore it open. 

The disgusted look on Bertram’s face made his 
friend laughingly exclaim, “Oh ho! Alter Junge , 
the Stormy Petrel is off again!” 

“You’re right, old man—off with a vengeance,” 
was the curt rejoinder. 

Knowing from past experience the futility of 
questioning his close-lipped friend, young Fur- 
stenburg with a resigned, “That comes from hav¬ 
ing mysteriously important friends!” gave orders 
to pack up. 

Forty-eight hours afterwards Bertram von 
Ehrenkrug was quietly shown into Count von 
Wedell’s private chamber. 

“Sorry, Ehrenkrug, to curtail your vacation, 
but you had at least a couple of weeks of relaxa¬ 
tion and comparative freedom of action. I have 
not had a week in years. I have sent for you 
because something of the utmost importance is 
under foot. It is so important that the Emperor 
is going to undertake the thing in person. I want 
you to accompany the Emperor. His Majesty in¬ 
tends to . . here the Count leaned over to 


120 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Ehrenkrug and whispered something in his 
ear. 

Ehrenkrug, accustomed as he was to the sud¬ 
denness and vagaries of His Imperial Master, 
could not suppress a nervous start. “Impossible, 
Excellency! Can’t be done. His absence is 
bound to be noticed. And what about a possible 
recognition? I won’t be responsible for his 
safety.” 

“Be quiet. The responsibility is not yours, but 
ours. Do not trouble your head about his ab¬ 
sence here or his recognition there. What you 
have got to do is to obey orders—put your knowl¬ 
edge of ways and means at our disposal, and do 
your best in safeguarding his person. You will 
find here the whole plans carefully written out,” 
continued the Count, handing Ehrenkrug some 
papers. “Commit them to memory and burn 
them. From here to the border we will find no 
difficulty at all. It is only after leaving Metz 
that we will have to exert and to rely more or 
less on our own resources.” 

Ehrenkrug, who had listened with ill-concealed 
agitation, now sprang up saying, “I must respect¬ 
fully and firmly decline this mission. The re¬ 
sponsibility, notwithstanding your declaration, is 
121 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

still too great. For myself,” shrugging his shoul¬ 
ders, “you know, Count, I don’t care a hang. 
But to be responsible for the Kaiser’s person, no. 
That’s more than you can ask of any one, espe¬ 
cially me. So again, Excellency, you will have 
to excuse me.” 

Graf Wedell had listened patiently to Ehren- 
krug’s tirade, and smiled quietly. “Sit down, 
Ehrenkrug. You’re old enough now and you 
have been long enough with us to know that we 
never do anything without sufficient reason and 
without weighing every possible consequence. 
If your Kaiser sees fit to do a thing, it is not for 
you to question. I myself have pointed out to 
him the danger, but you know our master well 
enough to know the futility of trying to persuade 
him to desist from anything that he has made his 
mind up to do, especially where his own person is 
concerned. The Emperor is convinced that this 
is necessary and any backing out would stamp 
him a coward in his own eyes. And you know 
the Emperor’s total absence of physical fear. I 
am telling you all this, Ehrenkrug, for I under¬ 
stand and appreciate your agitation. You know 
that I am not in the habit of giving explanations 
and that you have no right to them. Yours is to 
122 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

obey, not to question. Let this be realized. Be¬ 
cause of the unusual circumstance, I departed 
from our rules. Now master your instructions 
and get ready. We will leave to-morrow evening 
at eight o'clock.” 

Ehrenkrug, who had sufficient time during the 
rather lengthy tirade to compose himself, got up 
from his chair with deliberation. He slowly put 
on his gloves. When they fitted to his entire sat¬ 
isfaction, he looked up and addressed the Count, 
who was keenly watching the set and stony ex¬ 
pression on von Ehrenkrug's face. “Your Ex¬ 
cellency, nothing you have said or could say will 
make me undertake this mission. I know the 
consequences of disobedience. I will take these 
consequences. If you have no further orders, 
will Your Excellency permit me to retire ?” 

Receiving a curt nod from the Count, who was 
still closely scrutinizing the young man's face, 
Bertram von Ehrenkrug clicked his heels and 
left. 

Graf Botho von Wedell, Privy Councilor to 
His Majesty, and Chief of the Emperor's Secret 
Service, remained sitting in front of his desk 
staring in a brown study out over the Wilhelm- 
platz. “Hum! I don’t know if I blame the lad 
123 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


over much. Don’t know but what I’d also re¬ 
fuse, if the circumstances were reversed. Won¬ 
der how the old man will take this? Likely to 
break Ehrenkrug, though. A thousand pities.” 

At that moment a tiny bell began tinkling on 
the Count’s desk and a red disc appeared on a 
small box-like instrument at the side of the writ¬ 
ing table. This was the sign that the Emperor 
had returned to his residence in Berlin and indi¬ 
cated a wish on the part of the Emperor to get 
into communication with the Count. All the 
principal service chiefs, as well as the chiefs of 
the General Staff, the Admiral Staff and the 
Heads of the Police have those indicators in their 
offices and in their private homes. The Emperor 
is thus enabled to get into immediate personal 
touch with the various heads of his departments. 
The switch boards are operated from the royal 
palace and are entirely independent from the gen¬ 
eral telephone and telegraph service. A special 
insulating device is used which prevents any pos¬ 
sibility of wire tapping. Over these wires the 
Emperor can and does hold conversations with 
his ministers of the utmost confidential nature and 
importance without the least likelihood of any 
eavesdropping. 


124 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

The Count took up the special received. “No. 
i. Zu Befehl!” (At orders !) 1 

The Emperor was evidently asking about the 
progress made in perfecting the plans for his in¬ 
tended journey, for the Count reported Ehren- 
krug’s refusal to have anything to do with the 
undertaking. Receiving some peremptory com¬ 
mands, the Count replied, “Useless, Sire. He 
had that typically Ehrenkrug mule expression on 
his face, and I know the breed too well. To try 
persuasion and force is of course out of the ques¬ 
tion. . . . You command Ehrenkrug’s presence? 
Zu Befehl Sire.” 

That afternoon Ehrenkrug received a summons 
to attend the Emperor at the close of the gala 
opera. Punctually at quarter to eleven Ehren¬ 
krug presented himself to the usher at the royal 
box and was told to wait and accompany His 
Majesty to his chambers at the Wilhelmstrasse. 
At the close of the performance the Emperor took 
leave of the Empress and his family; and at a 
sign, Ehrenkrug entered the second of the two 
waiting royal motor cars, which were driven rap¬ 
idly to the Wilhelmstrasse. 

1 It is an invariable rule that all secret service officials in com¬ 
municating with the Emperor or each other always use a number, 
the Emperor replying with the letters “S.M.” 

125 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


Here in the famous underground chamber 1 
Count Wedell awaited His Majesty. Without 
pause the Emperor walked into the inner cham¬ 
ber, Ehrenkrug remaining in the outer room. An 
officer in the undress uniform of the First Royal 
Life Guards was guarding the door. Ehrenkrug 
had to wait fully a half hour before summoned 
to the Emperor's presence. During this time, al¬ 
though both young men, the officer and Ehren¬ 
krug, were well known to each other, both being 
scions of old noble houses, not one word of con¬ 
versation passed between them. Such is the iron¬ 
clad rule of the Emperor's personal staff. 

The inner door opened and Count Wedell beck¬ 
oned Ehrenkrug into the inner chamber. The 
Kaiser was sitting at his historic green baize-cov¬ 
ered writing desk. On Ehrenkrug's entrance, he 
glanced up from some plans he was perusing and 
pointed to a spot within a few feet of his seat. 
“Komm er hier” (Come you here). 

Ehrenkrug advanced. Slowly the Emperor 
looked him up and down, at last fastening his 
eyes on Ehrenkrug's face. When closely scru¬ 
tinizing another person, the Emperor has a trick 

1 A description of this chamber is included in The Secrets of the 
German War Office, in “The Kaiser Prevents a War.” 


126 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

of slowly screwing up and opening his eyes, pro¬ 
ducing a rather startling effect upon most persons 
by reason of the penetrating clearness of his large 
steel grayish-blue eyes. Ehrenkrug stood his 
scrutiny well. 

“So, the Freiherr von Ehrenkrug is not willing 
to undertake the bidding of his Emperor,” the 
Kaiser began calmly. “The Freiherr von Ehren¬ 
krug, aged twenty-nine, presumes to criticize the 
action of his liege master.” The Emperor's voice 
began to be strident. “Let me tell the Freiherr 
von Ehrenkrug that without his addition there 
are quite enough jackanapes who think too much 
but do not act enough.” The Emperor was 
pounding the table by now. “But, Beim Ann - 
herrn (by my ancestors), I will teach them a dif¬ 
ferent tune. Obedience I want, not advice! Un¬ 
derstand?” 

Ehrenkrug, who had stood motionless during 
the Emperor's tirade, simply lifted his hand to 
the salute. 

“Speak up! What's the reason of your refusal 
to Count Wedell's behest?” 

Ehrenkrug still stood like a stone figure. 

“Schockschwerenot! Are you dumb? An¬ 
swer.” 


127 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

After swallowing hard a couple of times, Eh- 
renkrug, rather red in the face, broke out bluntly, 
“I refuse, Sire, because it is an absolutely fool¬ 
hardy proposition. And,” Ehrenkrug, getting 
warm, continued, “if none of Your Majesty’s ad¬ 
visers has the courage to say so, I will take it 
upon myself to point this out. I know the risk 
and danger and the possible consequences better 
than your stay-at-home old fossils. I will not be 
party to a scheme which has ninety-nine out of a 
hundred chances of endangering Your Majesty’s 
life. I have risked my own willingly and without 
hesitation in your service, as my forebears did 
before me, but this I will not do.” 

The Emperor, who had been keenly watching 
Ehrenkrug, leaned back in his chair and in an 
altered tone of voice said quietly, “Listen, my son, 
Dein Kaiser will tell you something. 

“I have a duty to perform toward my people, 
my country and my dynasty. But I am prepared 
for others not to understand it, and to contest. 
Duty, my son, you must not forget is entirely 
different for certain individuals and shaped ac¬ 
cording to their position and station in life. My 
duty is not yours and vice versa.” 

The Emperor paused, and shifting his position 
128 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

so as to take Count Wedell into his range of vi¬ 
sion, he continued, “Have you ever given it a 
thought, Wedell, that my grandfather on his 
death had not quite achieved the task which he 
set out to perform? That, although he renewed, 
in his person the glory and tradition of the old 
Germanic Empire, yet he had not entirely lived 
up to them ? It was all fine and well to have been 
proclaimed Emperor of Germany at Versailles, 
but it was not enough. Look at our position from 
a geographical point of view. We are sur¬ 
rounded by enemies, without the vital necessity 
of outlets to the seas, save where we artificially 
created them. Through the congestion in the 
few ports we have we are beginning to suffer 
from acute arterio sclerosis . 1 The pulse of the 
people cannot get through. Can we under cir¬ 
cumstances such as these play the dominant part 
we ought to in the destinies of the world? I have 
been reproached for militarism, but the moment 
I give up this power we lose all our advantages 
gained through the great wars of my ancestors 
and my grandfather who created the new Ger¬ 
many.” 

1 The Emperor is very fond of using scientific, especially medical 
terms in his conversation. 


129 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

The Emperor paused again. Taking his hand 
he stroked his forehead with a weary gesture, 
then almost to himself, “But we cannot go on 
forever in this defensive position we occupy to¬ 
day. I cannot do so because this is already mis¬ 
construed. In order to silence my enemies and 
stop the tongues of our detractors, I must make 
a final effort. Do not misconstrue my words. I 
do not harbor sinister designs against my neigh¬ 
bors, but I am getting older and I cannot help 
thinking more deeply than I have ever done be¬ 
fore on the future that awaits Germany and my 
dynasty. I have become a grandfather, and it 
is but natural that the future of my grandchildren 
preoccupies me. As long as I am here all may be 
well, but can you assure me that it will be so when 
I am dead? My ancestors and I have followed 
closely the rules and traditions of our house, but 
there have been mighty changes, and my son may 
not follow as closely along the same lines as we 
have done unless I leave him an inheritance so 
firmly established that nothing can wrest it from 
him. I am not thinking of war. My youthful 
ardor has long since gone. When I looked upon 
war as glorious in the years gone by, influence of 
which you know nothing prevented me. Now, I 
130 



WILLIAM II. AT 19, 

Wearing the uniform of the Dragoon Guards 




















































































































■ ' i . I 














The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

would take the sword only as a last resort. But 
I have kept ready. The question arises, whether 
I can keep on being ready forever. The sacri¬ 
fices I have made are known only to me. I will 
make one more, and only one.” The Emperor 
had gradually worked himself into one of his pas¬ 
sions—“And, by the God of my Annherrn, let 
those who oppose me look to themselves. Time 
and time again I have verschluckt (swallowed) 
sneers and insults for the sake of my country and 
because the time was not ripe, but . . .” Here 
the Emperor made one of his characteristic ges¬ 
tures with his right arm. “Enough! 

“Ehrenkrug, your Emperor demands and you 
will obey. Wedell, I want to be left alone.” 

Three days later the papers of Berlin informed 
the public that His Majesty was going to enjoy 
a short week of hunting at Rominten. The usual 
crowd of curious onlookers was waiting outside 
the Lehrter Bahnhof to watch the departure of 
the Kaiser. The royal carriage deposited the 
Kaiser and some Court-charges in full view of the 
hurrahing multitude. Recognizing their accla¬ 
mations, the royal party boarded the imperial 
train which promptly pulled out of the station. 

131 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


His Majesty William II was apparently off for 
one of his famous hunting trips. 

About the same time at a little side entrance 
on the Pariser Bahnhof a taximeter deposited 
three men who went immediately into the station 
master’s private room. No one saw them enter, 
for the whole platform was deserted. An ex¬ 
press engine coupled to a first class day coach 
was backed into a siding. The shortest of the 
three men, who wore a large black velour hat 
much affected by artists of the Quartier Latin, 
pulled well over his eyes, was hiding his right 
arm under a green checkered traveling plaid. 
They boarded the waiting train. Quietly engine 
and coach slid out into the night. 

At Frankfort-on-the-Main the carriage was un¬ 
obtrusively shunted onto the Berlin-Paris ex¬ 
press. On the Grenz-Station (border station) a 
keen observer would have noticed that neither the 
German authorities nor—and this was stranger 
still—the French officials went near or bothered 
in the slightest degree the three occupants of that 
particular carriage. 

Arrived at Paris, the trio leisurely descended 
from their coupe and mingled with the throng of 
132 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

incoming and outgoing passengers. At the 
Grande Portal they were met by a gentleman 
dressed in the conventional Parisian attire—a 
frock coat, muffler and high hat—who merely 
lifting his hat, beckoned them to follow him. 
Entering two waiting fiacres the party was driven 
to a small hostelry, the Cceur d’Or, in the Rue 
de la Paix. 

In a small dingy back room parlor of this third 
rate Parisian hotel two men were awaiting the 
arrival of this mysterious party. The elder of 
the two was walking restlessly up and down the 
narrow confines of the room repeatedly ejacu¬ 
lating, “They ought to be here by now. I won¬ 
der why Wedell insisted on my meeting his com¬ 
panion. Is it possible that it can be the . . . 
Pshaw! Impossible. Even he wouldn’t dare 
take the risk.” 

“What’s the use of worrying? We’ll soon 
know who it is. In fact, I think they are here 
now. I can hear some one in the adjoining 
rooms.” 

He had hardly finished speaking when the door 
opened and Count Wedell entered the room. 
Carefully closing the door, he walked with out¬ 
stretched hand toward the elder of the two men, 
133 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

saying, “I am very glad to find you waiting for 
us. He” . . . Wedell whispered something into 
his companion’s ear . . . “does not like to be kept 
waiting.” 

The Frenchman, who had jumped back with a 
startled exclamation, “Grand Dieu, c’est impos¬ 
sible” sank limply into a chair, staring vacantly 
into Wedell’s face. Drawing his hand with a 
weary gesture across his forehead, he almost 
whispered, “What a terrible risk for all of us. 
What if he should be recognized! What if this 
becomes known! Count, do you know that this 
is extremely unfair to me? I would never have 
been here had I known whom I was to meet.” 

“Calm yourself. We have eliminated all pos¬ 
sible risks. In any case,” continued the Count, 
grimly smiling, “it is too late now. As to being 
unfair to you, that may be so, but your very ad¬ 
mission proves to me his correctness in insisting 
that the identity of your visitor should be kept 
secret until the last moment. Are you ready? 
Well, let us go and see him.” 

The Count walked toward the door. Turning 
around to the hesitating and evidently still per¬ 
turbed gentleman, he said, “Why this hesitation? 
You know that you have got to go through with 
134 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

it now. It is unnecessary for me, is it not, to 
point out to you why ?” 

With a helpless gesture, the man in the chair 
got up and prepared to follow the Count, signing 
to his silent companion to accompany him. The 
Count, on observing this, turned again and cross¬ 
ing his arms said this time in a distinctly harsh 
tone of voice, “No third party, if you please. 
Monsieur” 1 —making a curt bow to the younger 
of the men—“is, of course, known to me, but his 
presence is out of the question. You will please 
content yourself with remaining and guarding 
the outer room. Ehrenkrug will remain with 
you.” 

The Count opened the door, and motioning the 
gentleman to proceed, stepped into the next room, 
closing and locking the door behind him. 

The shortest of the three men who had left 
Berlin the previous evening was half reclining on 
a rickety sofa. On the entrance of the Count 
and his companion, he pulled himself into an 
erect position. Wedell stepped forward saying, 
“Count Hoheneck, permit me to present Monsieur 
Joseph Caillaux.” 

1 Certain unavoidable reasons compel the author to withhold the 
name of the third party present. He was a member of the French 
diplomatic corps at the time who has since retired but is still alive. 

135 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

The Frenchman, who was soon after to become 
Prime Minister of France, stepped forward and 
making a deep obeisance, said, . . Your Maj¬ 
esty—” 

“My dear Caillaux, I prefer to be known as the 
Count of Hoheneck,” replied the personage sit¬ 
ting on the sofa. “Come and sit here beside me. 
Count, you get yourself a chair.” 

In this dingy back parlor William II, Joseph 
Caillaux and Count Botho von Wedell were clos¬ 
eted for more than two hours. At the end of 
this time Caillaux quietly left the hotel by a side 
entrance. 

That evening the Count of Hoheneck, contrary 
to the succinct advice of Count Wedell and the 
fervid pleading of M. Caillaux, insisted on seeing 
something of Paris by night. In the Bal Taba- 
rain, one of the places visited, the Count Hohe¬ 
neck, notwithstanding his very excellent disguise 
—the Kaiser’s hair was dyed and his mustache 
waxed in the French fashion down to a point— 
was recognized by a staff reporter of The Figaro, 
who promptly traced the Emperor to his place of 
residence and through clever investigation found 
out that M. Caillaux had also been seen leaving 
this particular hotel. The accidental recognition 
136 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

of the Emperor by this reporter resulted in the 
death of M. Calmette a few years later, an inci¬ 
dent that will go down in annals as one of the 
most interesting crimes—from the point of world 
politics—ever committed. 

Calmette was directeur of The Figaro and the 
news being carried to him, promptly silenced the 
mouth of his reporter, storing this information 
for future use. On Caillaux’ becoming Prime 
Minister of France, Calmette, no doubt, made 
capital out of his possession of this secret. His 
earlier influence with Caillaux was notorious, and 
the subject of a good deal of speculation. 

Finally there came a time when the extortionate 
demands of Calmette, especially the latter’s ad¬ 
vances as regards Madame Caillaux, were met by 
refusals. Then began Calmette’s threats. Cail¬ 
laux had informed the German Secret Service of 
Calmette’s knowledge of the Emperor’s visit to 
Paris and of his consequent dangerous position. 
Two distinct attempts by German Secret Service 
employees were made to procure the silence of 
Calmette, one way or another. In the first in¬ 
stance the sum of half a million francs in cash 
was accepted by Calmette. But Calmette was not 
satisfied with purely pecuniary advantages. He 
i37 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


soon began to use again his knowledge as a lever. 
Realizing the impossibility of obtaining absolute 
guarantees of Calmette’s silence, Count Wedell 
hit upon the Machiavellian plan of using Madame 
Caillaux in removing this dangerous antagonist 
—dangerous in more ways than one. 

Through his general fondness for women and 
particularly his known infatuation for Madame 
Caillaux, Calmette left himself peculiarly open to 
an attack of this sort. The ever-growing and bit¬ 
ter antagonism of Calmette toward Caillaux and 
the former’s broad threats and hints of his power 
and ability to vitally injure her husband were 
cleverly used by German Secret Service emis¬ 
saries to instil in Madame Caillaux a frenzied 
hatred of her husband’s detractor. Calmette’s 
ruthless methods in using the past history of 
women as stepping stones for personal and po¬ 
litical aggrandizement made the subsequent at¬ 
tack on his life a very logical one and removed 
it far enough from the real cause to avert sus¬ 
picion. Calmette, for reasons of his own, had let 
it become apparent that his exposures would come 
through Madame Caillaux! This was imme¬ 
diately fastened on to by German Secret Service 
agents who imbued this unfortunate lady, already 
138 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

brooding, still further with the idea that she alone 
could save her husband. It is an easy matter to 
drive a woman of Madame Caillaux , devotional 
temperament to extremes. The consequence is 
well known. She went to the directeur’s office 
and calmly shot him down. In a subsequent trial 
she was acquitted, not so much through the rea¬ 
son of public sentiment as through the disinclina¬ 
tion of the French government to stir up poison¬ 
ous ashes. The time was too super-charged with 
danger for the Government to risk a far-reaching 
scandal that would probably have resulted in the 
total disruption of the French Cabinet. Quietly, 
but insistently, they went about and eliminated 
the danger spot out of the French public life. . . . 

As quietly as the party had left, so they re¬ 
entered Berlin. The next morning the populace 
acclaimed the real, instead of the pseudo, Em¬ 
peror. 

He had accomplished his task—accomplished 
it practically single handed, accomplished it with¬ 
out the knowledge of his foes. How this was 
done and how he has been able to undertake such 
a daring coup is easily explained. 

Authentic, yet conflicting rumors of the Em- 
139 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

peror’s being seen and observed in certain local¬ 
ities from time to time have puzzled diplomatic 
cabinets and especially newspaper men a great 
deal. There was, for instance, the Kaiser’s sud¬ 
den visit to the Emperor of Austria in 1906. Al¬ 
though engineered with painstaking secrecy, 
through some means or other, a clever correspond¬ 
ent of The Temps of Paris ascertained the Em¬ 
peror’s presence at Ischle, a favorite countryseat 
of Francis Joseph. He informed his paper of 
this startling occurrence and promptly the cab¬ 
inets of Europe, always uneasy in regard to Wil¬ 
liam the Sudden’s movements, became furiously 
agitated. Rumors and editorials embarrassing 
to Germany appeared immediately but were 
quickly extinguished by emphatic cables from all 
the foreign correspondents of the world’s papers 
in Berlin who had seen the Emperor in person 
driving at the time in question in an open car¬ 
riage in Unter den Linden and attending a per¬ 
formance of the royal opera. Nevertheless, His 
Majesty was really at Ischle. On this, as well as 
other occasions, one of the Kaiser’s two substi¬ 
tutes impersonated him. These two men are se¬ 
lected for their close resemblance to the Em¬ 
peror; one especially, an ex-actor, is able to por- 
140 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

tray the Kaiser with such minute exactness that 
he more than once has startled and dumbfounded 
even the immediate entourage of the Kaiser, much 
to the latter’s amusement. 


CHAPTER VIII 
England’s menace 

T HE moon on the night of October 7, 1910, 
was surrounded by a slender hoop of 
weird, ghostly, greenish-yellow light, as if a fiend 
had placed a halo there. Great marching masses 
of distorted, storm-driven clouds slowly moved 
across the grisly heavens, as if to shut out some¬ 
thing that was to transpire below. It was a night 
of ghosts; the gray-cloaked figures might have 
been ghosts. They glided around a long, low 
iron structure, the seaward end of which gaped 
wide, and their voices when they gave their terse 
orders were but penetrating whispers. 

On the road from Swinemunde, the seaport for 
Stettin, to the outer mole the sentries had been 
tripled. Extra alert and swift, they compelled all 
traffic to return or make a wide detour. Up this 
road a motor car was swiftly approaching. The 
sentry saw that it contained five well-cloaked pas¬ 
sengers. Springing to the center of the road, 
142 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

he challenged; a single order from the man in 
front and the sentry gaped. Then discipline urg¬ 
ing him, he stiffened to attention. The car pro¬ 
ceeded. It drove swiftly toward the big black 
shape that opened on the sea. At the entrance of 
the structure it stopped; expectantly the five men 
leaned forward. As if but awaiting their arrival, 
there crept soundlessly out of the enclosure, a sil¬ 
very, cigar-shaped form, swaying slightly, one 
almost thought chilled by the autumn night; it 
was fully exposed to view. 

“Sinister.” 

Involuntarily the word fell from the youngest 
of the men in the car. 

They were watching what might have been a 
gigantic whale that seemed to hang in the air six 
feet from the ground, suspended as if by levita¬ 
tion. At once two of the occupants of the car, 
younger than the others, saluted their companions 
and walked toward this strange monster. The 
two men who were left in the automobile watched 
them swiftly ascend a short iron ladder that dan¬ 
gled from the monster’s belly and then gro¬ 
tesquely withdrew into its interior. They heard 
almost immediately a soft droning; they saw the 
huge shape quiver an instant, then its nose pointed 
143 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

upwards at a sharp angle and the thing majestic¬ 
ally mounted into the night and rapidly disap¬ 
peared from sight. The two men in the car had 
watched in utter silence, but as the strange ob¬ 
ject faded into the eerie sky the larger of the two 
men stood up. Raising his hand in the salute he 
said: “Your Majesty, I have kept my word.” 

The Emperor, his face still turned to the mid¬ 
night sky, held out his hand, saying simply, “The 
Fatherland’s thanks are due to you, Count.” 

Thus did Wilhelm II and Graf von Zeppelin 
watch the trial flights of the first dreadnought of 
the air. 

The great Zeppelin hurtled through space; but 
von Ehrenkrug gave no thought to its speed, so 
easily did the ship ride. From the moment he 
had left the upper motor, however, von Ehren¬ 
krug began to have a surfeit of new emotions. 
As he climbed up the dangling ladder and made 
has way toward the pilot and observer in the for¬ 
ward conning tower of the airship, the novelty 
of his observations had enthralled him. And 
now, as the great craft swam steadily and noise¬ 
lessly up into the night, he heard no sound but the 
voices of his companions, for the motors of the 
great ship turned in silence. Three thousand 
144 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

feet below he could see where the land left off 
and the water began. Accented by the exaggera¬ 
tion of color that such height gives, the edge of 
the Baltic rimmed the land in hazy, silvery gray. 
They were heading straight out to sea. No 
longer were the uncertain shadows of the earth 
visible. Somewhere down in the vast void 
through which they coursed there seemed to float 
a shimmering haze of unearthly light, as though 
the heavens were flooring the night with celestial 
silver. Down there a whistle hooted; steadily 
they flew on. 

The commandant suggested, as they had still 
two hours of flight before reaching the Swedish 
coast, a tour around his vessel, which Ehrenkrug 
readily accepted. Starting from the conning 
tower they went along a well-lit companion-way 
leading into a comfortable mess room. Another 
short passage, and the commandant pointed out 
two doors on either side, one of which he opened, 
and which led into a small semi-circular room 
protruding like a swallow’s nest from the inside 
of the Zeppelin. This was a torpedo room, bare 
at present, but carrying, when on active service, 
six 50-pound aerial torpedoes. Next he was 
shown one of the two machine rooms where a 
i45 




The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

200-horse-power, almost silent, Diesel motor sup¬ 
plied the power for two of the four aerial propel¬ 
lers. Adjoining was the electrical appliance 
chamber, containing dynamo and huge batteries 
for the wireless service. The whole interior of 
the ship was a marvel of well-thought-out com¬ 
pactness. 

Ehrenkrug was told that besides a crew of 
twelve, they carried ballast to the tune of two 
and one-half tons. Next they ascended two short 
flights of iron stairway, leading right into the in¬ 
terior of the gas envelope. Here Ehrenkrug 
counted twenty-six separate compartments, 
twelve to a side, and one at each end, each con¬ 
taining an independent balloon. Noticing a num¬ 
ber of small steel cylinders, he asked what they 
were, and was told that they contained the lift¬ 
ing power of the Zeppelin. Ascending still 
higher, and climbing through a trap door, they 
stood on a wind-swept upper or hurricane deck. 
In the middle was a short mast, with its spider¬ 
like antennae: the aerial receiver. In the bow 
and stern were two gun platforms, intended for 
quick-firers, also two squat structures, which 
proved to be powerful searchlights. 

Just then an orderly, putting his head through 
146 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

the trap door, announced that the Swedish coast 
was in sight, and they returned to the conning 
tower, where the observer pointed to a dim out¬ 
line far ahead. Glancing at the aerostat, and 
finding 3,000 feet of an altitude, the commandant 
gave an order for an elevation of 4,000 feet. The 
pilot manipulated various levers and instantly the 
floor of the Zeppelin began to slope, coming to 
an even keel when the desired height was reached. 
They were now well within the cloud line, their 
desired object, for, as the commandant remarked, 
grimly smiling, “We are no ways keen on being 
seen.” 

The observer was busy leaning over his com¬ 
pass and chart, and presently announced that they 
were over Swedenbourg, a distance of 480 kilo¬ 
meters from Swinemunde. From there they 
cruised over Upsala, the famous old Swedish 
university town, when the pilot, receiving an or¬ 
der, turned the nose of the Zeppelin home¬ 
ward. 

The landing, after an eighteen hours’ flight, in 
which more than 1,300 kilometers (about 850 
miles) were covered, was accomplished without 
mishap. The same silent, gray-clad figures re¬ 
ceived the vessel. The crew immediately left by 
i47 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

motor cars, only the commandant, Ehrenkrug, 
and the observation officer remaining. A sharp 
order to the foreman of the gray-clad squad, bags 
of powder were placed under the aircraft, and 
the ship promptly blown up. With large sledge 
hammers, pieces of the motor and interior fitting 
still intact were demolished, put into carts, taken 
away, and dumped over the mole-head into the 
sea. 

The newspapers next day reported that the 
trial of the Zeppelin X resulted in disaster and 
total destruction. 

In a year the world knew that passenger-car¬ 
rying Zeppelins were operating successfully in 
Germany; any one could ride on them—any one 
who had the price. But no one except trusted 
men ever intimately saw a military Zeppelin of 
the type X. 

During the time between the destruction of 
Zeppelin X to the outbreak of the present war, 
Germany was secretly manufacturing parts of 
these great machines, but in peace time, except for 
secret experimental purposes, they were never 
assembled. All that the world knew about the 
German Zeppelins were the unwieldly ships that 
traveled the skies from Dusseldorf along the 
148 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Rhine. No military Zeppelin was allowed to ex¬ 
ist. This is one of the ways Germany guards her 
secrets of war. 

It is inspection day at the Krupp factories in 
Essen en der Ruhr. Twice a year the Emperor 
in person, or his heir apparent, inspects the war 
arsenals and manufactories in his empire. The 
most important is the supposed-to-be-private 
firm, being absolutely, as far as the manufactur¬ 
ing and selling of material and implements of 
war are concerned, under the control of the gov¬ 
ernment. The present nominal head of the con¬ 
cern is Frau Anna Krupp von Bohlen-Hal- 
bach, the only surviving child of the founder of 
the firm. She receives upwards of $1,000,000 
per annum as her share of interest from the 
works. After the Franco-Prussian War, the 
firm of Krupp began to be subsidized by the Ger¬ 
man government, but it was only after the sup¬ 
posed death of the head of the firm that the State 
assumed absolute control. 

The death of Frederick Krupp has never been 
satisfactorily proven. An undisputable fact is 
that the coffin resting in the Krupp Mausoleum 
contains a body bearing as much resemblance to 
149 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollems 

Frederick Krupp as does the Mummy of Ptolemy 
the Second in the Museum in London. Herr 
Krupp, who had made the acquaintance in Bad 
Nauheim of the extremely fascinating Mme. 

X-, a relative of a high French government 

official, suddenly contracted a deathly illness. 
Men of prominence, and in possession of vital 
state secrets, ere now have found interest in 
French ladies conducive to sudden ill health. 

The royal party, after being received with due 
honors, commenced its tour of inspection, going 
with extreme care into the minutest details in 
those sheds where actual gun making was in 
progress. Before one of the long factory build¬ 
ings the party paused and only the Emperor with 
his chiefs-of-staff, the director of the works, and 
the master mechanic entered, the rest of the large 
retinue remaining without. Nothing startling 
was seen in the interior, only some fifty or sixty 
large steel blocks, twenty feet long, five feet deep 
and five feet broad. These blocks were resting 
in troughs from which the acrid fumes of sul¬ 
phuric acid arose. Half a dozen elderly, gray¬ 
haired workmen were continuously spraying the 
heavy pieces of steel till they shone like burnished 
silver. 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


These huge blocks of metal caused a good deal 
of quiet speculation amongst the workmen and 
more than a little anxious inquiry from members 
of the various foreign secret service. Although 
some goodly sums were offered at one time or an¬ 
other for definite information, nothing was forth¬ 
coming, for no one outside the chosen few really 
knew. They were too short for crank shafts of 
battleships or liners; they were too big for axle- 
trees, or even the largest size of field guns thought 
possible. The Kaiser and his Chief-of-Staff 
were walking up and down the long lane of these 
carefully tended, shining masses of steel, the lat¬ 
ter repeatedly whispering to his master, bringing 
a grimly satisfied smile to the Emperor’s face. 

William II, war lord of Europe, was smiling, 
and no wonder, for these inoffensive-looking, in¬ 
ert masses of metal were the parent blocks of the 
mighty 42-centimeter guns, destined to prove such 
a destructive factor to the most modern fortifica¬ 
tions. 

This is but another instance of how Germany 
guards her war secrets. Germany, of all na¬ 
tions, knows that no matter how carefully a se¬ 
cret is kept, it is bound to leak out sooner or later. 
That is why she did not dare to manufacture or 

151 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

complete a single 42-centimeter gun or war Zep¬ 
pelin during peace time. 

There was unusual activity in the navy yards 
at Kiel. Prince Henry of Prussia, brother of 
the Kaiser and Gross Admiral (grand admiral) 
of the Imperial navy; Admiral von Tirpitz, Min¬ 
ister for Marine, and Rear Admiral von Koster, 
Chief of the Naval Staff, were on a special tour 
of inspection. With the usual Prussian thor¬ 
oughness they went over the whole of the navy 
yards. Presently the entire party boarded a ten¬ 
der and proceeded to a rocky island, guarding the 
entrance of the Schley-Bucht (Bay of the 
Schley), and halted before a small floating dry- 
dock anchored inside a narrow, almost inap¬ 
proachable inlet. 

Gray-clad, close-cropped human automatons, 
similar to those employed at the aero station at 
Swinemunde, were at work about a squat object, 
looking like an elongated tadpole, even to the odd¬ 
appearing appendage, in this instance clearly in¬ 
dicating the rudder. On a little plateau to the 
right of the landing steps were some stone slabs 
inscribed with a number and date, the nameless 
burying ground of the silent workmen. They 
i5 2 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

were life convicts. Germany uses a number of 
these men for the secret manufacture of certain 
things. They are well treated, but never regain 
their personal liberty. 

The inspectors entered the fish-like looking 
craft, which slid easily into the water, diving 
almost immediately. The submarine, for such it 
really was, returned after an absence of about 
three hours. That the experts on reappearing 
were evidently well satisfied with the prowess of 
the boat, was clearly indicated by their animated, 
almost excited comments. 

“A cruising range of 4000 miles, : ” the con¬ 
struction officer was jubilantly reporting. 

Equipped with a heavy oil engine of 2000 
horsepower, an electric motor of 900 horsepower, 
the new type of submarine was a revelation in 
naval construction. Up to this time the largest 
German submarine, U-20, built in 1912, had a 
motor of only 650 horsepower and a cruising 
radius of 2000 miles. Naval experts of countries 
other than Germany had believed that that sized 
engine was the limit for an undersea boat. But 
the new type was almost twice as large. It had 
special construction, with high bows that would 
enable it to remain on the surface in the heaviest 
153 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

sea. Equipped with three periscopes, it also car¬ 
ried a novelty of naval construction. The un¬ 
usually high conning tower was fitted with a small 
lookout cap. This was to revolutionize subma¬ 
rine warfare. At dawn or dusk, when the light 
is bad, a periscope is as good as useless. With 
the submarine running awash, however, the look¬ 
out, by using the cap atop the conning tower, 
could clearly see the surrounding sea. This 
meant that henceforth the German submarine 
could attack at dawn or twilight unhampered by 
the difficulties of light that would bother the sub¬ 
marines of all the other navies in the world. 
Moreover, the new type was able to carry eight 
torpedoes. Germany had devised disappearing 
platforms upon which were mounted two four¬ 
teen-pounder, quick-firing guns and two one- 
pounder aeroplane guns. The crew of thirty-five 
officers and men, the new boat was double the 
power of any submarine in the world. 

The same thing happened now as on the occa¬ 
sion of the trial flight of the super-Zeppelin. 

The super-submarine was promptly destroyed. 
Superior to any submarine in the world, as this 
war has shown, able to remain two weeks away 
from its base—not traveling, of course, all the 
154 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

time—equipped with torpedo tubes amidships, as 
well as at the extremities, it was an innovation in 
naval construction. What, with its new process 
for purifying air; its new engine, capable of out- 
speeding any known submarine eight knots to the 
hour, this craft upon its successful trial trip in¬ 
stantly ceased to exist. Separately its parts were 
made and stored. Prussia knows how to guard 
her military secrets well. 

This was the third secret, and perhaps most 
potent arrow, prepared and kept against “Der 
Tag!” (The Day—the daily toast in the mess- 
rooms of His Imperial Majesty’s navy). 

Captain zur See von Tapken, head of the In¬ 
telligence Department of the Imperial navy, was 
walking restlessly up and down his official quar¬ 
ters at Koeniggratzer strass 70, in Berlin. Fre¬ 
quent glances at a magnificent Orloff clock clearly 
indicated he was expecting a visitor. Answering 
the ringing telephone at his desk, the captain sank 
into his chair with a relieved, “Ah, here he is. 
An orderly showed Ehrenkrug into the room. 

“At last, Herr von Ehrenkrug. We have been 
waiting for the last two hours,” was his greeting. 

Ehrenkrug, apologizing, explained that he had 
i55 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

been kept at the Wilhelms trasse, in Count We- 
dell’s chambers, awaiting the arrival of the 
Kaiser. 

“Ah, you have seen Seine Majestat this morn¬ 
ing ?” von Tapken half queried. 

The curt answer, “1 had the honor,” made the 
captain smile, and drew the rejoinder, 

“I see, Freiherr, you have taken the third de¬ 
gree in our order of the “Must-Be-Silent” ones. 
Now let us get to work. You have received your 
instructions, have you not?” Receiving a nod, 
he continued: “My instructions were to see that 
you were thoroughly coached in the topography 
of the sea coast, so that you may be in a position 
to direct the charting of our planned depots. I 
have detailed two of our foremost topographists 
and oceanographists as your instructors so that 
you will be familiar with the part of the coast on 
which we wish to make these depots. Absolute 
exactitude to the smallest detail is necessary. 
You will have the service of our local agents 
there; I have not yet decided which of our diving 
experts shall accompany you; time enough for 
that, as it will take you about a month to become 
familiar with the subject. I do not know the rea¬ 
son why you, a nonprofessional seaman, have 
i5d 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

been chosen. That rests with those above. What 
I again impress upon you is minutest care and 
correct description. I shall now introduce you 
to your instructors/’ 

Ringing a bell, he commanded an orderly to 
summon First Lieutenant X- 1 and Naviga¬ 
tion Commander Z-. After introducing 

Ehrenkrug to the above-named officers, von Tap- 
ken, in the terse, curt language of a Prussian offi¬ 
cial, instructed: 

“It is commanded that you teach and instruct 
this gentleman daily from io to 12 o’clock and 
from 3 to 6, on the subjects which were indicated 
to you before. You will give Herr von Ehren¬ 
krug additional time should he so request. By 
special cabinet order you are exempt from all 
other duties. That is all, gentlemen.” 

The two officers, saluting, withdrew. Offer¬ 
ing Ehrenkrug a cigar, and after some pleasant 
nonofficial chatting about out-of-the-way places, 
von Tapken proving himself to have been a pro¬ 
digious traveler and full of unique information, 
Ehrenkrug took his departure. 

Daily, from eight to ten hours, the two officers 

1 Noblesse oblige compels one of withholding names at times.— 
Author’s note. 


157 




The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

and Ehrenkrug pored over huge charts of prac¬ 
tically the whole of the British Isles. Sectional 
maps, giving every foot of ground in certain 
strategical quarters, were consulted, and minute 
measurements made, but the most attention was 
paid to the depth of the different harbor en¬ 
trances, and especially to the shoals and plateaus 
lying near the coast. Point after point was se¬ 
lected, until gradually the whole of the British 
Isles was surrounded by a network of dots, indi¬ 
cating under-sea depots, to be used as supply sta¬ 
tions for German submarines. 

The great General Staff neglects nothing, quite 
aware that England’s mighty resources would 
play a deciding factor in a European war. They 
also thoroughly understood that to eliminate Eng¬ 
land from the more and more imminent struggle, 
necessitated two things: either an active invasion 
of England, or, failing that, the intimidation of 
Great Britain by air raids and under-sea attacks, 
not only on her war fleets, but on a much more 
vulnerable point—her food supply. Germany 
had realized that it was hopeless to try to build 
against Great Britain, for whenever Germany 
built one dreadnought, the British Admiralty laid 
down two. Germany had made the attempt, but 

158 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

soon realized that even her science and economy 
could not keep pace with England’s wealth and 
resources, so she cast about for other means. 
She found them in the invention of Zeppelin, 
Diesel, and Simon Lake. 

Otto biesel had perfected an internal combus¬ 
tion motor, three times more powerful to its 
weight than any other known engine in the world. 
He had submitted his machine to the experts of 
the German government, who promptly bought 
the secret. Diesel received one million marks in 
cash, besides a life rent of twenty thousand thal- 
ler. Like a good many others, Diesel, on acquir¬ 
ing this sudden wealth, grew avaricious. It be¬ 
came known to those whose business it is to know 
these things, that Diesel was on the point of going 
to England with the intention of further capital¬ 
izing his invention. He boarded a steamer at 
Hamburg, en route for Edinburgh. He was 
never seen again. Diesel should have known 
better, for he had dealt with those “who neither 
rest nor sleep.” 

Simon Lake, an American, was the inventor of 
a number of submarine improvements which his 
own government did not consider worth while. 
Over in Germany they had longer heads, and 
159 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

promptly embodied and improved his ideas. It 
is curious that two of Germany’s most powerful 
trump cards, her submarines and her 42-centi¬ 
meter guns, originated right here in America, 
which sets one to wondering at the short-sight¬ 
edness of the powers that be. 

The admiralty division of the great General 
Staff was at work on a plan whereby German sub¬ 
marines could take supplies at given points from 
under-sea depots. Although their latest type of 
submarine has a radius of well over 1,000 miles, 
and carries six torpedoes, it was still insufficient 
for an effective blockade of the British coast, for 
most of the German bases are between 600 and 
800 miles away. As it was essential for these sea 
scorpions to keep an unceasing vigil, it was neces¬ 
sary to find means to replenish fuel, food, and 
ammunition closer to their sphere of activity. 
The ordinary way, by means of tenders, was out 
of the question, for Great Britain “rules the 
waves,” so after perfecting devices for the taking 
on of stores underneath the water, Germany made 
plans to plant these stores at convenient points all 
around Great Britain’s shores. At no time in all 
her history had England faced a greater menace. 

The Zeppelin a reality; a gun of forty-two 
160 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

centimeters, at which the experts of the world 
had laughed, demonstrated practical; a submarine 
that could cruise for two weeks away from its 
base; supply depots planted around the English 
coast; the inventors safe—Zeppelin unquestion¬ 
ably loyal, Krupp and Diesel disappeared from 
the earth, alive or dead no man knows; Lake mak¬ 
ing money and satisfied; Germany had all her mil¬ 
itary secrets well guarded and ready for The 
Day. 

Those who knew the Kaiser well thought he 
was growing younger. In all the years he had 
been in the Emperor’s secret service Bertram von 
Erhenkrug had never seen His Majesty so free 
from care. One noticed about him a calm con¬ 
fidence that ceased to be held under bounds; it 
was as if Wilhelm II felt his power, longed to 
tell, but did not dare tell the world how strong 
he was. He was ready. By the custom of his 
house he could go to war, but he did not want 
war—not yet. He would bide his time, and then 
he would smash them. 

In the early spring of 1914 there came a sum¬ 
mons to the agricultural experts of Germany. 
They met His Majesty in the Royal Palais. They 
had come prepared to make long reports to him, 
161 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

and as they left, as if to confirm something he 
said, “Gentlemen, I can rely upon your statement 
that the crops to be harvested this fall will be the 
largest in the history of Germany ?” 

They assured him that this was so. 

“That is good.” 

But through the thin walls of European coun¬ 
cil chambers the news traveled swiftly. In a 
room in Downing Street there sat a cold inscruta¬ 
ble Englishman who was glad to know that Ger¬ 
many’s crop was a great one, and the English¬ 
man sent one of the King’s messengers to France, 
and another to Belgium, and another to Russia. 
And Wilhelm II, who had so long been held back 
by the secret mandate of the Hohenzollerns, 
thought that he was going to have all of Ger¬ 
many’s crop in the barns and that then—for his 
day was drawing near. 


162 


CHAPTER IX 


FINE AND EDGED TOOLS 

N EARER and nearer drew Der Tag. One 
frantic attempt after another was made 
by the Kaiser to burst the bonds of his isolation. 
The situation had changed, and with a vengeance. 
From 1900 to 1906 it was England who was 
“splendidly isolated.” But thanks to the tactful 
far-sightedness of Edward VII and his advisers, 
the situation had undergone an almost miraculous 
change. The Kaiser’s clever coup in bringing 
the Morocco affair up to a crisis through the 
Adagir incident, drove the enemy into the open. 
It showed him that England and France were 
shoulder to shoulder; he brought about a secret 
meeting in the Black Forest which Viscount Hal¬ 
dane and Winston Churchill attended incognito, 
and tried to smash the Triple Entente. He found 
it as firm as a rock. 

Now it was Germany’s turn to feel musht (an 
Indian hunting term for an outlawed elephant). 
As all Indian shikarries know, these outlawed 
163 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

beasts are the most vicious and dangerous alive, 
attacking anybody and anything in sight. Much 
the same, Germany was running amuck. At first 
the friendly visits of Haldane to the Kaiser’s 
court had tricked the Wilhelmstrasse into believ¬ 
ing that a close understanding had been reached 
with Great Britain. But in the face of existing 
conditions it would seem as though the charming 
viscount had been but a screen behind which 
moved the shrewd, calculating Earl Grey. Ger¬ 
many, to use a poker term, had almost put her 
cards upon the table during that conference in 
the Black Forest; almost—but not quite, for with 
the same Teutonic philosophical craft practised 
by Herman, the cherusker, who lured Varus, the 
commander of the Roman legions, into a false se¬ 
curity and destruction in the Teutoburger Wald, 
so did Germany wisely fool England. Forty- 
two-centimeter guns, Zeppelins, Diesel motors, 
and submarines were kept up her sleeve. 

It may have been better for the peace of the 
world in general and for Germany in particular 
if she had shown to her would-be ally the tre¬ 
mendous resources at her disposal. Perhaps 
England would have not been quite so eager in 
taking up the cudgels for the so-called neutrality 
164 



WILLIAM II. AT 23 








r 































The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

of Belgium. Plainly the overtures led to no 
tangible result, and it became evident that Ger¬ 
many was being diplomatically outgeneraled. 
Realizing the impossibility of weening England 
over to her side, Germany inaugurated a terrific 
campaign of espionage in England. 

Bertram von Ehrenkrug was closeted with 
Count von Wedell, the Emperor's chief of the 
Secret Service, in his chamber in the Wilhelm- 
strasse, the German Foreign Office. The Count 
was very insistent and emphatic in his instruc¬ 
tions. Plainly these instructions were not much 
to Ehrenkrug's liking. The Count, well versed 
in reading the facial expressions of his fellow 
men, was not slow in discerning his unwilling at¬ 
titude ; for he sternly remarked, “It is no use kick¬ 
ing, Ehrenkrug; this has to be done and the Em¬ 
peror has decided on you to do it. Besides, you 
have already received a pretty good schooling in 
what is now required of you. Haven't you 
learned yet to separate private and ethical scru¬ 
ples from the work and missions which you are 
bidden to undertake? Is it necessary to point out 
to you of all men the dire necessity which com¬ 
pels us to do these things?" 

Ehrenkrug chose not to reply, and Wedell con- 

165 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

tinued, “Daily the activities of our enemy become 
more apparent. No one knows how soon we may 
have to face terrific odds which will need our ut¬ 
most strength and resources to combat. We may 
have to face these odds alone; that is why we need 
every and all information we can get. That is 
why we spare no effort or money in preparing 
ourselves. There is no need for sophistry. The 
Emperor knows, I know, you know, that the ne¬ 
cessity for these things is unethical . . .” The 
Count shrugged. “But as long as this necessity 
remains we have to do it—and will. Besides, we 
only use the same weapons which are used against 
us; perhaps”—this with a grim smile—“our 
weapons are the finer tempered.” 

Knowing the futility of argument or of oppo¬ 
sition, Ehrenkrug nodded a silent consent. 

The Count pressed a button and ordered the 
attendance of the oceanographic expert in charge 
of the English coast sections. The officer in 
question appearing, the three went over once more 
the field of Ehrenkrug’s prospective activity. The 
Count pointed out various strategical spots on 
and off the coast of Great Britain which the Ger¬ 
man admiralty deemed necessary for submarine 
attacks on England. These strategic points, 
166 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

about five hundred miles apart, as previously in¬ 
dicated, were intended for submarine depots. 
The latest type of German submarines, as yet not 
even constructed, included devices which enabled 
them to take fuel and ammunition while sub¬ 
merged. The Count also instructed Ehrenkrug 
to sound his English acquaintances in every way, 
shape or form on their sympathies, tendencies to 
support the Government; in fact, on any phase 
likely to have bearing on the political or diplo¬ 
matic situation in England. 

One of the greatest assets which Germany has 
assiduously promulgated, especially the great 
General Staff, is the acquisition of an enormous 
mass of information gained by observant Ger¬ 
man travelers in all parts of the world. Every 
German officer on furlough as well as most Ger¬ 
man commercial travelers are trained and re¬ 
quested by their respective departments to send 
essays, abstracts, and reports of their observa¬ 
tions to headquarters. This information is sifted, 
compared, and the result carefully docketed and 
pigeon-holed for future reference. The mass of 
information thus gained apart from that gath¬ 
ered by the Secret Service direct, is past all be¬ 
lieving. It is to a great extent responsible for 
167 






The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Germany’s success in keeping the world at bay, 
and her ability to inflict losses upon her enemies 
in the least expected quarters. 

On his way over to England, Ehrenkrug had 
plenty of time for cogitations. They were de¬ 
cidedly unpleasant, for a man engaged in such 
dangerous and unpleasant tasks is apt to hold 
executive sessions with himself conducive to any¬ 
thing but a placid frame of mind. Gradually, in 
the course of his mission, Ehrenkrug had been 
drawn deeper and deeper into the shadier sides of 
the Secret Service. Not that this service is at 
any time very aseptic. It needs a good deal of 
antiseptics in the form of patriotism, necessity, 
force, or greed to make it at all tolerable. By 
birth, breeding, and personal inclination, Ehren¬ 
krug was anything but a born schemer. How¬ 
ever, once in the meshes of this service there is 
no drawing back. The instances where one has 
been able to withdraw with a whole skin are few 
and far between. As regards one’s reputation, 
that invariably comes out in tatters. Ehrenkrug 
knew all this, but having in the course of his 
wanderings become more or less of a fatalist, he 
shrugged his shoulders and went ahead. 

It was the height of the hunting season in Eng- 
168 




The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


land. At W-, the hunting lodge of the Earl 

of R-, one of the leading sportsmen' in the 

United Kingdom, visitors were arriving daily. 
The small somnolent station and village of 

W-, named after his lordship’s estate, were in 

the throes of their annual excitement. 

These time-honored hunting parties in Eng¬ 
land are the means of bringing together the vari¬ 
ous members of the British aristocracy. At no 
other time, unless it be on the race meetings, does 
the ultra-stiff and conservative Englishman of 
birth and breeding unbend to such an extent as 
on these meets. He becomes almost Bohemian on 
such occasions and meets in good fellowship even 
“bally” foreigners, you know, especially if those 
“bally Johnnies” know how to ride or shoot. 
Neither intellectual attainments in sciences, arts, 
and literature nor the possession of wealth or 
family origin impresses an Englishman as does 
excellence in one of the classical sports such as 
riding to hounds, shooting, or cricket. Ehren- 
krug, thanks to his natural fondness for all sorts 
of sports and his training in one of the crack 
cavalry regiments of Germany, soon found him¬ 
self the admired center of Lord R-’s hunting 

party. 


169 




The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Tall, good looking, of a distinctive clean-cut 
type, invitations to other shooting and house par¬ 
ties were freely extended to this distinguished 
foreigner. Here Ehrenkrug was able to lay the 
foundation of a circle of acquaintances of im¬ 
measurable benefit to him in obtaining all sorts 
of information useful to the German government. 

Quietly and unobtrusively he made the ac¬ 
quaintance of men and women in a position to sup¬ 
ply the wanted information. Gradually, through 
close study, he was able to weed out the most 
likely persons to be approached. He would ob¬ 
serve their personal habits, note the extravagant 
losses of some of the men and women at bridge 
and baccarat, make inquiries as to their financial 
standing, and then instruct subagents to buy up, 
if possible, their various notes of hand (I O IPs), 
and mortgages. Ehrenkrug never played him¬ 
self, but would introduce others very willing to 
gamble with and accommodate with great alac¬ 
rity the persons selected for approach. Gradu¬ 
ally the fine invisible net was drawn tighter and 
tighter around these jelly-boned drones of hu¬ 
manity. Then one fine morning a gentleman 
with a distinctly Hebraic physiognomy would in¬ 
troduce himself. This gentleman would produce 
170 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

a sheaf of I O U’s and mortgages, and ruthlessly 
press for settlement, which in five cases out of 
ten these dupes were unable to meet. This fa¬ 
vorable time was then astutely used in hinting 
various ways by which the obligation might be 
wiped out and canceled. The victims, carefully 
chosen and at their wits’ ends, in seven cases out 
of ten would sell their honor and country for the 
means of being able to maintain their station in 
society, said society being the only god they wor¬ 
ship. It is by such means that the innermost se¬ 
crets and information of even royal households 
are obtained. And it was by employing just such 
means that Ehrenkrug was able to obtain the 
plans of the Ajax and Queen Mary, the two latest 
dreadnoughts of the British navy. 

Of course the introduction of the German 
agents into British society is always engineered 
directly by the Secret Service officials in Berlin, 
although never without the knowledge of the local 
German embassy. There was the case of the 

spurious Countess von B-, whose mysterious 

career in London ended before His Worship de 
Rutzen, the famous London police magistrate. 
The then German ambassador to the Court of St. 
James naturally disclaimed all knowledge of the 
171 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

woman in question, but on more than one occa¬ 
sion both attended the same social function, were 
introduced formally, and seemed to be able to 
make passable party conversation! 

Sometimes the Kaiser in person, through rea¬ 
sons of his own, introduced members of his staff 
and suite by quasi-forcing them on to the society 
folk. This was evident in the instance of the 
Emperor’s last visit to England prior to the death 
of Queen Victoria. The visit was not the out¬ 
come of an invitation given to him, but in conse¬ 
quence of a wish expressed by him that he might 
be invited. The Prince of Wales sent an unoffi¬ 
cial, private message through a friend in Berlin 
to the following effect: “Tell him that my 
mother’s precarious state of health will unable 
her to entertain him, but I will do all in my power 
to make him welcome and his stay a pleasant one. 
There is one favor I would ask, however, and this 
is that he shall not bring Admiral von Seden 
Bibrian.” 1 

When the Emperor arrived with his retinue of 
sixty, Admiral von Seden Bibrian was conspicu¬ 
ous among them. The large number of the Em- 

1 Admiral von Seden Bibrian had spoken most disrespectfully 
about the Prince, criticizing in a coarse manner the Prince’s at¬ 
tention to a certain court lady. 

172 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

peror’s suite on this, as well as on other occasions, 
the Emperor having visited England fourteen 
times, outran the accommodations of Windsor 
Castle, and a number of his officers and secre¬ 
taries were of necessity lodged and quartered 
upon the estates round about. A clever ruse this, 
for it brought these men trained to observe any 
and everything in close contact with various pos¬ 
sible means of information. This practise gave 
rise afterwards to some ill-natured gossip and 
cartoons which, coming to the ears of King Ed¬ 
ward, caused him to exclaim, “We can get along 
with the Russians, the Japanese, even the Ameri¬ 
cans, in short with everybody, but these people are 
simply impossible.” 

Ehrenkrug’s exploits on this one mission, if 
told in detail, would fill several chapters. One 
incident will suffice, however, to show the crafty 
methods employed by German secret agents in 
using English society folk as unwitting collabo¬ 
rators. Ehrenkrug arranged a cruising party 
around the northern coast of the British Isles. 
He selected a congenial group of companions— 
men and women well known in English society, 
amongst them several officers and their wives. 
The boat was commodious, and it had a well- 
173 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


stocked provision locker—in fact, everything nec¬ 
essary for a highly enjoyable cruise. Having 
seen to it that they brought their cameras along, 
Ehrenkrug, after the first day out, soon had the 
party converted into enthusiastic camera fiends. 
In and out the bays and inlets to John O’Groat’s 
the steamer leisurely cruised, and at each point 
numberless photographs were taken so that prac¬ 
tically a continuous panorama could have been 
made of them if pieced together; yet each was so 
taken as to bring in the salient landmarks and 
coastal contours. Naturally Ehrenkrug was not 
so poor a host as to keep his guests waiting for 
the finished results of their photographic expedi¬ 
tions; he had provided a dark room below in 
charge of an expert. The expert, needless to say, 
was one of Ehrenkrug’s subagents, and the first 
prints of every photograph taken are to-day dock¬ 
eted in the Admiralstab’s archives in Berlin. 

The same sort of tactics that were employed by 
the Kaiser on his English visits were used in the 
memorable journey of the Crown Prince to India, 
although there were other reasons for his leaving 
Germany at the time. 

The Crown Prince’s indiscretion in going to the 
Reichstag and loudly applauding the violently 
174 



The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

anti-English speeches of some of the members, 
although received with great public acclamation, 
displeased the Government and most of all his 
royal father. It was deemed advisable to remove 
the Crown Prince's disturbing influence for the 
time being and the grand tour of the heir of the 
throne of Germany to India was decided upon. 
With true Hohenzollern craft they decided to kill 
two birds with one stone. This tour would 
broaden His Imperial Highness’s mind and give 
him experience; it also could be made an investi¬ 
gation of the political sentiments of the Prince 
of India. Also reisen Wier! 

The British government was somewhat in a 
quandary. The visit of the Crown Prince of Ger¬ 
many to British possessions of the East was sub¬ 
mitted to them as an entirely unofficial health and 
hunting trip of His Imperial Highness. Not 
even a German warship was going to be used, but 
a Nord German Lloyd steamer—very clever this! 
But England had some previous experiences of 
unofficial German visitors and was by no means 
enthusiastic over the proposal. A lack of cor¬ 
diality and warmth, however, does not disconcert 
any German project. What could the British 
government do? Grin and bear it. His Maj- 
i75 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

esty’s Government is pleased to extend to His Im¬ 
perial Highness, the Crown Prince Frederick 
William, the hospitality of the Indian Empire, 
and will do all in its power to make His Imperial 
Highness’s hunting trip a successful one. Thus 
officially; unofficially the Secret Service of India 
was strengthened by some of the cleverest and 
shrewdest service officers in the employ of the 
Secretary for India. England may be a fool as 
far as European Secret Service is concerned, but 
in Indian affairs she takes no chances; that’s a 
horse of a different color. “We’ll jolly well see 
that His Nibs doesn’t miss his Shikari,” was the 
comment, somewhat cryptic to an outsider, but to 
an insider deuced lucid—of one of the Anglo- 
Indian officials to the author. 

The first place where the Crown Prince made 
any lengthy stay was at the Island of Ceylon. 
Thanks to the munificent hospitality of that mer¬ 
chant prince, Herr Froudenberg, Consul General 
for Germany in Ceylon, and the combined efforts 
of other wealthy German and colonial houses, the 
Prince’s stay in this pearl of the British crown 
was like a continuous dream out of “The Thou¬ 
sand and One Nights.” Very interesting stories 
could be related of what befell certain very pretty 
176 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

little American tourists during this visit, but as 
they have no political significance, they need not 
be elaborated on here. 

The Prince landed at Bombay and became the 
guest of the Indian government. Forthwith an 
exhaustive and elaborate hunting program was 
gone through, but it was noticed that the Prince 
was not permitted to meet any of the native 
princes and rajahs except at some semi-state 
functions. Adroitly the officials frustrated the 
repeated attempts of the German party to be 
received at private entertainments by prominent 
Indians. In one case only was the vigilance of 
the service officers frustrated when the Gaegwar 
of Baroda met the Prince in private. There is 
not the slightest doubt that Anglo-Indian govern¬ 
ment officials heaved a big sigh of relief when the 
smoke of His Imperial Highness’s departing 
steamer gradually merged with the horizon. 

Directly this visit would seem to have had no 
political significance; indirectly it did. The 
Prince’s suite was not without its coterie of In¬ 
dian experts who were able to feel out the sym¬ 
pathies of the natives in the event of hostilities 
between Germany and Britain. Moreover, had 
not his royal papa gone reverently sandaled into 
1 77 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

the Grand Moshee at Constantinople and had he 
not been given the green scarf of an Hadji, 
which is granted only to the true believers who 
make the pilgrimage to Mecca ? It is significant 
to note that not many moons passed between the 
departure of the Kaiser's son and the arrival of 
King George in India for the Durbar. It was not 
good for England's prestige in India to permit 
the native to be impressed for too long or too 
deeply with the majestic appearance of the future 
ruler of Germany. 

Germany had worked her way with these 
fine and edged tools of the Secret Service in every 
corner of the globe. How necessary it has been 
for her to use them is brought home forcibly to 
the American public through the continually crop¬ 
ping up of episodes such as the attempt to blow 
up the international Canadian bridge, the Stegler 
case and the Swaboda incident. Previous to the 
outbreak of the war there was scarcely any neces¬ 
sity for the activity of Secret Service agents and 
spies in this country—Brussels, Copenhagen, 
Monte Carlo, and of course all the capitals of 
Europe being the hotbeds of espionage activity. 
Since the outbreak of the European war all of 
these avenues have been closed and the central 
178 




The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

point of gravity, by reason of the commercial 
activity of the United States, has been shifted 
over here. The uninterrupted commercial rela¬ 
tions of the United States give great facilities 
to the agents of foreign governments to obtain 
information and transmit the same through the 
various business houses, often unknown to the 
heads of these concerns. It is a fact that the 
powers in Europe and especially Germany ob¬ 
tain information about things happening within 
a hundred miles of their own firing line through 
these mediums and via New York. This coun¬ 
try at present swarms with men and women in 
the pay of one government or another. It is true 
that in most instances they do not violate the 
neutrality or interests of the United States, that 
is, as yet; in which instance they would not hesi¬ 
tate a moment to injure the United States. It is 
all very well to be lenient and to point to the free¬ 
dom clauses in the Constitution, but the author 
would like to sound here a note of warning. He 
knows from his own experience the ruthless dis¬ 
regard of consequences demanded of and prac¬ 
tised by these emissaries. It may prove ad¬ 
visable for the Government to look into and 
curtail their activities. 


179 


CHAPTER X 

JUMBLED INTERESTS 

A LTHOUGH the political barometer stood 
at its lowest level, there were still men in 
Europe who did not believe an outbreak of hos¬ 
tilities possible. The long reign of peace in Eu¬ 
rope had lulled certain nations into a false se¬ 
curity. Commercialism and finance during forty 
years of undisputed sway had flattered itself that 
it possessed power strong enough to prevent a 
general upheaval. Idealistic dreamers, philan¬ 
thropists and peace advocates, who had spent mil¬ 
lions on peace propagandas and temples for the 
White Dove, had added their quota in obscuring 
the real trend of affairs to such an extent that 
those who correctly read the signs of the times 
and warned against them were put down as 
alarmists and militarists. In no country was 
this more apparent than in England. 

Men like Lord Roberts of Kandahar, Baden- 
Powell, Admiral Fisher, Lord Kitchener of Khar¬ 
toum and many other able men in other spheres 
180 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

and walks of life had raised their voices time and 
time again against the almost suicidal wauserism 
of the peace-pifflers. The smug self-sufficiency 
of the English “pepper bags” with characteristic 
short-sightedness and stupidity pooh-poohed 
these warnings as the ravings of military glory- 
mad alarmists. Deeming themselves secure in 
the possession of their money bags and with a 
wisdom arising therefrom, they tied their purse 
strings and effectively defeated the efforts of men 
more far-sighted than themselves. 

It is a lucky thing for England that the efforts 
of the above mentioned men, although receiving 
very little or no official assistance, were able to 
arouse a certain amount of public sentiment re¬ 
sulting in the formation of independent training 
camps, rifle clubs, etc., which organizations have 
been able at short notice to place 200,000 fighting 
men at the disposal of the Government. They 
have proved second to none in the firing line, 
much to the astonishment and discomfiture of the 
German General Staff who could or would not 
believe the efficiency of the British non-official 
soldier. But more of this in another chapter. 

In Germany an entirely different condition of 
affairs existed. Proposals of peace, disarma- 
181 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

ment and arbitration were patiently listened to 
and promptly disregarded. This, not because of 
any Teutonic love for strife and bloodshed in the 
abstract, but from a deep-rooted conviction that 
now, as in ages past, international affairs would 
have to be decided by the sword. Germany of 
all nations, while recognizing the blessings of 
peace and tranquillity, realized that the devoutly 
to be hoped for millennium is as far off to-day, 
if not farther, than it was in the days of the 
Punic Wars. A lot of twaddle has been dis¬ 
charged upon long suffering humanity about Ger¬ 
manic aggression, militarism, etc., said literature 
being assiduously distributed by her equally 
guilty enemies. 

These theories and effusions as to the cause 
and prevention of wars, with their high-toned 
rhetorical involvedness, seem to lose sight of the 
main factor of all things existent, in nationalities 
and creeds, in individuals and masses: human 
nature. If two thousand years of the most log¬ 
ical and beneficial teachings of a creed purposedly 
and admittedly trying to instil meekness, forbear¬ 
ance and brotherhood has been unable to elim¬ 
inate strife, dissension and bloodshed from their 
own ranks, is it to be wondered at that a nation, 
182 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

naturally given to deep thoughts and studies, re¬ 
jects as impracticable the propositions made by 
more or less interested theorists ? 

The powers that be in Germany hold with the 
axiom that he who strikes first wins half the bat¬ 
tle. So convinced were they of the ultimate ne-. 
cessity for settling the decision of the great Eu¬ 
ropean question through a force of arms that they 
were quite prepared to act the part of the ag¬ 
gressor if necessary. 

The whole situation, calmly and logically re¬ 
viewed, points plainly to this undisputable fact: 
Germany, under the rule of her three Hohen- 
zollern emperors, has attained a foremost posi¬ 
tion among the nations through having been un¬ 
disturbed by any wars for over forty years. 
During these forty years she has, through appli¬ 
cation, thoroughness and science, built up a com¬ 
mercial position second to none, and that in oppo¬ 
sition to nations which had entered the field hun¬ 
dreds of years previously. 

Habitually and fundamentally there is no race 
on earth more fond of the ease of life and all 
things pertaining thereto than the Teuton. No 
race, unless it be the Chinese, is more unwilling 
to violently physically exert themselves than the 

183 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Germanic. Physical prowess, almost idolized in 
other countries, is relegated very much to the 
background. In the automatically slow progress 
of commerce and science Germany had no reason 
to fear another nation on earth. She could and 
in fact did hold more than her own; but with 
metaphysical insight derived from and fostered 
through a close study of human history and 
philosophy, she recognized a possibly violent in¬ 
terruption of peaceful advancement. With Teu¬ 
tonic resignation to that which they considered 
inevitable the German people set about to prepare 
for and guard against “The Day.” They went 
about this with characteristically ruthless thor¬ 
oughness. 

The marvelous efficiency and resisting power 
of the German army 1 is the outcome of a mathe¬ 
matical system working with clock-like regularity 
and precision. This system permeates collec¬ 
tively the whole empire, but individually rests on 
the thorough training of each unit and individual. 
From his early childhood in the parental home, 
the German child is taught the fundamental les¬ 
sons of obedience. From the Emperor’s palace 

iThe actual fighting strength of Germany has been described 
in The Secrets of the German War Office, vide chapter “The Ger¬ 
man War Machine,” page 155. 

184 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

down to the humblest household, the authority of 
the parent is never questioned. The whole life 
and system is built around this early training. 
From the moment a child leaves his home to at¬ 
tend school, where also a rigid, unquestioning 
obedience to his teachers is demanded, through 
the early period of manhood as an apprentice in 
the various branches of the trades and profes¬ 
sions, this discipline goes on. It reaches its high¬ 
est point when the young man enters the army 
or navy. 

To an outsider, unacquainted with Teutonic 
ideals, this continuous subvergence appears harsh 
in the extreme. Without question, it would be 
and is irksome to those who are not gradually 
brought up and educated under such a regime. 
In reality—and this is well understood by Ger¬ 
man leaders of thought and education—this 
mergence of the individual will into a collective 
whole is nothing more than a logical outcome of 
democratic ideals. That last statement may seem 
paradoxical; for how, one might ask, can a mon¬ 
archy be democratic ? The situation is really not 
quite so contradictory as it would at first appear. 
The basic principle of democracy: “one for all 
and all for one,” is insisted and acted upon every- 

185 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

where in monarchical Germany. The State 
stands in loco parentis . This is visible in the 
entire range of public life. For decades Ger¬ 
many has embodied and used ideas such as State 
ownership of railways, post and telegraph, high¬ 
ways, waterways, canal, etc., ideas that so far 
have only been advocated, much less adopted, in 
presumably democratic or republican countries. 
Thus, in Germany, State ownership is operated 
for the benefit of the nation and not for the ex¬ 
ploitation of the same. To this truly democratic 
system, in the main, is due Germany’s success as 
a commercial nation, and that in the face of a 
distinctly unfavorable geographical position and 
a great handicap in natural resources. 

It is a strange fact that in this monarchical 
Germany all advanced ideals and cults have found 
fruitful generation. Consider Socialism, Syn¬ 
dicalism, Communism, Local Self-Government. 
You will find them all flourishing independently, 
and yet collectively working together for the ben¬ 
efit of the whole and of what the nation conceives 
to be for the best. That is why there is found 
in Germany the best and most up-to-date govern¬ 
ment. That is why even under the tremendous 
strain of huge armaments, taxation is lower in 
186 



The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Germany than in most other countries. That is 
why Socialism in face of all suppositions and pre¬ 
dictions stands solidly behind the Government in 
this present struggle. 

The Teuton is an idealist and somewhat of a 
mystic dreamer, but his idealism is intensely prac¬ 
tical. He keeps his feet firmly planted on earth 
although his head may be in the clouds. You 
have only to read (and digest—if you can!) 
Schiller, Goethe, Schopenhauer, Schlegel and 
Kant, or to listen to Wagner's music and plays to 
realize the complexity of the Teutonic character. 
Their art, philosophy and music, even their wild¬ 
est imagery, is built around a very tangible ma¬ 
terialism. 

This utilitarianism finds its embodiment in the 
House of Hohenzollern. Go back into history 
and come down to the present day; strip the 
Hohenzollerns, especially the reigning head 
thereof, of all superficial pomp, circumstance and 
pose, and you will find a solid core of downright 
business ability, absolutely necessary in the gov¬ 
ernment of such an intensely practical race as the 
Teutonic. By the same token the very intense¬ 
ness of their materialism demands, true to human 
nature, a reaction. This reaction is supplied very 
187 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

adequately by William II in his theatrical, often 
melodramatic, utterances and poses. 

All through history the Hohenzollerns, with 
very few exceptions, have proven themselves to 
be keen students of the Zeitgeist (spirit of the 
time). Their policies have found it necessary 
at times to suppress a too virulent or sudden ex¬ 
pansion of this “spirit”; but sooner or later they 
have managed to use and control it for the benefit 
of themselves and their country. No one has 
done this more so than the present ruler. The 
Emperor is by no means the genius which he 
would make the world believe. His scientific and 
artistic abilities are open to much criticism, but 
true to the spirit of the time and with character¬ 
istic Hohenzollern shrewdness, he is to-day one 
of the wealthiest men in the world. Besides be¬ 
ing the largest farmer and cattle breeder in Ger¬ 
many, he holds and has held stocks and bonds in 
the best paying concerns at home and abroad. 
He has married his sons to the wealthiest prin¬ 
cesses in Europe. The Crown Princess Cecile’s 
dowry amounts to no less than $35,000,000 in 
cash; Prince Eitel Frederick’s bride brought him 
a Mitgift of nearly $40,000,000. 

First and last, the collective wealth of the 
188 



The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Hohenzollern family is nearly $1,000,000,000. 
The official income of Emperor William II is 
$ 4 , 5 00 ,°oo; the revenue from Crown Lands, for¬ 
ests and domains is $2,500,000; three investments 
of the Emperor's before the outbreak of the war 
brought a net profit of $2,000,000; accumulated 
interest and moneys from other sources easily 
total a further couple of millions. It is no exag¬ 
geration to compute the Emperor’s yearly income 
at $12,000,000. 

Apart from lavish expenditures in the upkeep 
of his castles, the Emperor is very careful and 
discriminate in the handling of his cash. The 
Crown Prince, on the other hand, is quite the 
opposite. His pronounced ability to incinerate 
1000 mark Scheme (bills) has often led to some 
stormy interviews with the imperial papa. 

Frederick Wilhelm, whose main claim to nota¬ 
bility previous to the outbreak of the war lay in 
his horsemanship, his judgment of horseflesh and 
his marked ability to detect the fine anatomical 
points of the weaker sex, once made a famous 
bet on the outcome of the Guinea Stakes in Eng¬ 
land. The bet was for 500,000 marks ($125,- 
000) and the wager was contracted with two 
prominent members of the British aristocracy. 

189 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

The Prince lost. There being some delay in set¬ 
tling the score, the holder of the note, the eldest 

son of Lord P-, who found himself one day 

in urgent need of funds, pledged the note of the 
Crown Prince to a well-known London money 
lender. The resourceful money lender, after 
finding of no avail his gently conveyed hints as 
to liquidation—which probably never reached the 
Prince—hit upon the following expedient. 
Amongst his numerous clients he had a lady well 
connected in both the English and German courts. 
This lady, somewhat under obligation to him, was 
requested to be the bearer of a letter to His Im¬ 
perial Majesty, Emperor Wilhelm. The purpose 

of the letter as explained to Lady Ch-was a 

desire expressed by the sender for His Majesty’s 
gracious acceptance of a very rare old coin, the 
Emperor having a fad for coin collecting. Cer¬ 
tainly, she would be only too glad to, etc., etc. 

Shortly after, Lady Ch-left for Berlin. In 

the course of her stay she received an invitation 
to a garden party at Sans Souci and thought this 
the very opportunity to present the missive. Im¬ 
agine the poor woman’s astonishment when, in¬ 
stead of being pleasantly surprised at the sup¬ 
posed offer of a priceless coin, the Emperor, on 
190 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

opening the letter, grew turkey red, and, in his 
usual brusk manner inquired, “Dash it all, my 
Lady, since when has the British nobility under¬ 
taken to transmit dunning letters? What’s the 
meaning of this, anyhow?” 

Fortunately, the Emperor can always see and 

appreciate a joke, and on hearing Lady Ch-’s 

explanation he laughed heartily, remarking, 
“Damn clever of the old fox, eh what? As for 
that son of mine, I’ll take it out of his pocket 
money.” 

There is reason to believe that he did, for the 
Crown Prince was known to be notably short of 
cash for some time to come. Also His Imperial 
Highness was intensely displeased with anything 
English just then, and even kicked his English 
bulldog out of his quarters. 

Some of the biggest financial deals of the last 
decade were engineered by the royal stock brokers 
of Europe and the leading spirit in this most 
profitable form of employment was none other 
than Emperor William II. The most notable 
deal swung by His Imperial Majesty was the 
floating of the 800,000,000 mark loan for the 
Krupp Gun Works in Essen. All the Emperor’s 
private friends and cronies were “let in on the 
191 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

ground floor/ 5 as for example, the King of Italy 
with $25,000,000; the Grand Duke of Mecklen- 
burg-Schwerin for $10,000,000. Some of the in¬ 
timates of the Kaiser in England were also 
thoughtfully considered. There are to-day quite 
a number of houses in England, including some 
very high dignitaries of the Church of England, 
who derive or did derive up to the outbreak of 
the war quite an opulent income from this 
source. One who did not profit by this trans¬ 
action was Leopold, King of the Belgians. He 
was not even let in on the top floor! And thereby 
hangs a tale. 

Quite the second keenest royal commission 
agent in Europe was His Majesty of Belgium. 
No one amongst his royal brethren knew the 
value of money better or could spend it faster and 
enjoy it more. He manipulated quite a few deals 
of his own, outstanding amongst which was the 
Congo Rubber Company. Thoughtlessly, in this 
instance, he neglected to invite to the feast his 
royal cousin of Germany, who promptly pro¬ 
ceeded to spoil the banquet. When large blocks 
of stock were put for sale on the German mar¬ 
kets the bankers, receiving a tip from the Gov¬ 
ernment, showed a distinct inclination to leave 
192 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

the stock severely alone. The general public was 
antagonized through the publicity judiciously 
given and distributed via German channels to the 
more or less true atrocity revelations of Dr. Karl 
Peters, one time bosom crony of Leopold and 
dictator-in-chief of the Congo. Having pre¬ 
viously milked the Congo dry, the now saintly 
Peters, receiving but scant treatment from his 
quondam bosom friend, suddenly blossomed forth 
as apostle and humanitarian. The result was 
that the Congo Rubber Company ended in fiasco. 
Herein lies one of the reasons for the ill-feeling 
and antagonism between the Hohenzollerns and 
Braganzas. 

Another casus belli between those two royal 
houses and for which Belgium now suffers was 
the ambition of King Albert to restore the pris¬ 
tine glory and predominance of the Flanders in 
the Low Countries. The Hohenzollerns, espe¬ 
cially William II, put every conceivable obstacle 
in the way of the ruler of Belgium, as for in¬ 
stance, the marriage of the Queen of Holland to 
a German prince, frustrating a hope of the Bra¬ 
ganzas of making those two countries one. 1 

1 The author was instrumental in gathering information for 
the German government anent this most interesting and desired 
amalgamation. 


193, 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

The consequent marriage of King Albert of the 
Belgians to a Bavarian princess was a further 
disappointment, as it did not bring with it the 
hoped for German support of his ambitions. 

Such a combination of Belgium and Holland 
would have spelled a further delay in Germany’s 
design to extend her influence further west along 
the North Sea coast. In the other direction she 
had a stumbling block in Denmark. 

The relations of the Scandinavian countries, 
Norway, Sweden and Denmark, to Germany are 
variegated and involved. Denmark, for in¬ 
stance, is distinctly pro-British, somewhat inex¬ 
plicably so in view of Lord Nelson’s feat of the 
bombardment of Copenhagen. This characteris¬ 
tic piece of English gun-policy was equaled, how¬ 
ever, if not outdone by the Prussian maneuvers 
in 1864 when Denmark lost Schleswig-Holstein. 
The Danes, like the French, have never been able 
to forget or reconcile themselves to the loss of 
these provinces. This Danish antagonism to all 
things Germanic has been of tremendous benefit 
to the English campaign in this war; for if Den¬ 
mark was pliant to German desires, the British 
fleet would have almost an unmanageable task of 
keeping the German fleet from breaking through 
194 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

the cordon and smashing the units of the British 
fleet in detail. As it stands, Germany’s only 
means of shuttle-cocking and concentrating her 
fleet at any given point is through the Kaiser Wil¬ 
helm Canal, the North Sea outlet of which is at 
Holtenau. This canal enables the German High- 
sea Fleet to steam from the Baltic into the North 
Sea and vice versa; this, of course, is well known 
to the British Admiralty and the North Sea out¬ 
let is constantly watched by the most powerful 
British squadrons. The only other possible out¬ 
let from the Baltic is through the Grosse and the 
Kleine Belt, two narrows leading into the Katte¬ 
gat and Skagerat and controlled by Denmark. 
It stands to reason that if Denmark was willing 
to assist Germany by opening these straits to the 
German fleets, the forces now watching a single 
outlet would have to be divided to watch both; in 
which event these divided fleets would be weaker 
than the concentrated German Highsea Fleet. 
The possible results would be disastrous to the 
English cause. It is another inexplicable blunder 
on the part of German diplomats that they have 
not been able to placate Denmark. Here the 
overweening ego of the Hohenzollerns had frus¬ 
trated time and again the efforts of far-seeing 
i95 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

German statesmen; whereas the alliance of the 
Danish royal house with that of England through 
Queen Alexandra has borne for England some 
very material results. 

In the case of Norway and Sweden the situa¬ 
tion is somewhat different. Both these countries, 
although possessing no phenomenal love for Ger¬ 
many, have a distinct fear of the Northern Colos¬ 
sus that quite outweighs any other consideration. 
Moreover, Norway and Sweden are vitally in¬ 
terested in crude commercial enterprises due to 
their natural wealth in minerals, lumber and coal 
of which three commodities Germany was and is 
their best customer. It is of paramount interest 
to them that the Baltic and the northern portion 
of the North Sea should remain an unrestricted 
highway, as both countries, considering their size 
and population, hold the largest shipping interests 
still. Germany has always fostered and in no 
ways handicapped Swedish or Norwegian ship¬ 
ping enterprise or industries. A keen observer 
and traveler of the Baltic seaports of Germany 
such as Dancig, Stettin, Swinemunde, Rostock and 
Kiel, as well as Hamburg, must have been struck 
with the large number of Swedish and Norwegian 
flags seen in the above mentioned harbors. Be- 
196 





The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

sides, since the days of Gustavus Adolphus, the 
social relations as regards philosophical and re¬ 
ligious ideals have run close between these coun¬ 
tries. Last and not least is the tremendous in¬ 
fluence which the German Emperor personally 
exerts over Norway and Sweden through his 
immense popularity and the ownership, nominally 
vested in the Krupp Company, but in reality con¬ 
trolled by His Majesty in person, of the valuable 
iron mines. It is a well known fact that outside 
certain mines in Spain, the iron ore deposits of 
the Scandinavian Peninsula are the richest and 
purest in manganese, essential in the manufacture 
of the highest class of steel goods, especially guns. 
It is only the fear of the unconquered and as yet 
little damaged fighting strength of the British 
navy which keeps those two countries from ac¬ 
tively participating and assisting Teutonic ambi¬ 
tions in Central Europe. Meantime, the German 
Emperor as mine owner is biding his time. 

The attitude of Italy in this European holo¬ 
caust has been a puzzling one to those unac¬ 
quainted with Italian statecraft and the many- 
sided undercurrent influences at work, especially 
the methods of the royal stock brokers. The 
idea that Italy should have been true to her obli- 
197 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

gations under the Triple Alliance became a dead 
letter with Bismarck’s and Signor Crispi’s drop¬ 
ping out of office. This was practically the ac¬ 
cepted opinion in all European cabinets. The 
active assistance of Italy was never counted upon 
by the German General Staff, that is, not at the 
beginning of any hostilities. Under given cir¬ 
cumstance, being paid and getting her price, it 
was known then as it is known now that Italy 
would put her deciding weight in the scales on the 
side of Germany. The question is: what’s the 
price? First and foremost Trieste and the Tren- 
tino, also Dalmatia, at present hejd by Austria; 
secondly, a solid foothold on North Africa 
through means of colonial territory, since Italy 
more than any other European country is in need 
of adequate colonial possessions; thirdly, the pre¬ 
dominate position in the Mediterranean, at pres¬ 
ent divided between England and France with 
the scale balanced in favor of England. 

Italian statesmen have proven themselves much 
too shrewd to let such an opportunity for the ad¬ 
vancement and benefit of their country as the 
present to go by. Delve into history and you will 
find that Italian diplomacy has always managed 
to be on the winning side and gain quite a good 
198 



The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

deal in one way or another without actually fight¬ 
ing themselves. By playing the game of “watch¬ 
ful waiting” Italy will gain more in the end than 
if she were at present to cast in her lot with either 
side. Without the slightest doubt she will obtain 
Trieste and the Trentino, for Austria is not in a 
position to hold out much longer. As previously 
shown, Italy has made repeated bids for colonial 
empire in northern Africa, only to be blocked 
by England and France. Apparently neither 
France nor England is willing as yet to concede 
to Italy portions of territory under their control, 
but Italy must have some such portion, and, by 
the end of the war, will be found a possession. 
Thirdly, Italy expects, and reasonably so, to be 
the predominant factor in the Mediterranean, 
which, in the event of the defeat of the Allies, 
she certainly will be. Just now, she is in the 
third place; with the success of the Allies and the 
advent of Russia into the possession of the Dar¬ 
danelles, she would be relegated to the fourth 
place. Neither a successful England nor France 
would be willing, unless compelled by dire neces¬ 
sity, to give up their leading position in the Med¬ 
iterranean. Nor could or would they be able 
to prevent their ally Russia from asserting a 
199 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


newly acquired predominancy. All this is well 
known to Italy’s leading men of affairs, so that, 
notwithstanding the clamor of the ignorant 
masses, they are very unlikely to rush into this 
war. 

All of this suits the book of Germany extremely 
well. Recognizing the improbability, nay, al¬ 
most impossibility of the House of Savoy fighting 
shoulder to shoulder with the House of Hapsburg 
under existent circumstances, the very neutrality 
of Italy is of a measurable benefit to Germany, 
for Italy can and does supply some of the most 
needed raw materials, such as sulphur, copper, 
etc. 

Apart from diplomatic and economic reasons, 
the neutrality of Italy as far as Germany is con¬ 
cerned is still further insured through the close 
understanding between the House of Savoy and 
the House of Hohenzollern (for the House of 
Savoy cannot forget what a good friend Wil¬ 
helm proved when he permitted it a place in the 
Krupp loan), 1 the personal influence of the Kaiser 
at the Vatican, and the general close social rela¬ 
tionship between the two countries. In its way, 

1 The author himself carried the documents relative to this in¬ 
vestment to Rome. 


200 




The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

the House of Savoy is quite as ambitious as the 
House of Hohenzollern and, as those two ambi¬ 
tions usually do not clash or interfere with each 
other, this constitutes another strong current in 
this maelstrom of jumbled interests. 

Strange and conflicting are the conditions ex¬ 
isting between the House of Brunswick and that 
of Hohenzollern. It is a curious fact that, path¬ 
ologically speaking, there is more so-called Eng¬ 
lish blood in the present Hohenzollerns than 
German, and more German blood in the reign¬ 
ing English family than blood of their own. The 
husband of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, was a 
German; the mother of the present Kaiser was 
an English woman; the mother of the present 
King of England was a Danish princess of half- 
German extraction; the mother of the present 
Prince of Wales, Queen Mary of England, was 
a Princess of Teck, an old expatriated German 
family. Perhaps it is just this close relationship 
which has given rise to the innumerable squab¬ 
bles and is probably one of the causes for the 
apparently bitter feeling between these royal 
houses. 

Admittedly, there are no quarrels so bitter as 
those of the clans; and just as in clan fights, roy- 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

alty is quite willing to fight—or rather let others 
fight for them—until their own mutual interests 
are in danger. Then one can observe the strange 
phenomenon of these apparently individually bit¬ 
ter enemies changing front and making common 
cause against those who threaten their cherished 
prerogatives and privileges. The Hohenzollerns, 
the Hanoverians and the Brunswickers were al¬ 
ways more or less good friends. They had too 
much in common to be at loggerheads. The per¬ 
sonal squabbles and petty ambitions amongst 
themselves were never permitted to obscure or 
endanger the broader policies of their respective 
countries. It must have been indeed extraor¬ 
dinary powerful influences which compelled these 
royal houses to become openly avowed enemies. 
But are they openly avowed enemies ? Do any of 
the crowned heads at war to-day bear a personal 
hatred of their foe? 

To the general mass of people the answer would 
seem: Yes. To those versed in the undercur¬ 
rents of diplomacy and to a few keen and intel¬ 
ligent watchers of the world's principal actors, 
the answer is: No. And No, written big. The 
upstage acting of the royal George in kicking out 
the divine William's banner from the chapel of 


202 





The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

the Garter Kings at Arms; the fine byplay of the 
Kaiser’s in tearing off the glittering baubles pre¬ 
sented to him on many a convivial feast—for 
which, by the by, the taxpayers of England 
had to foot the bill—has and is completely fooling 
not only their own subjects but the world at 
large. 

Innumerable books, essays, pamphlets and trea¬ 
tises, official and otherwise, have been discharged 
upon a brain-weary public, setting forth, with 
more or less clearness and reason, the cause, jus¬ 
tification or fault of the present wholesale mur¬ 
der. The greater number of these effusions have 
for their main object the strengthening of an in¬ 
dividual claim; and, all or most of them succeed 
in bewildering still more an already sorely be¬ 
fuddled public. That is just what they are in¬ 
tended to do: to keep the real cause of this satanic 
carnage hidden from those who are laying down 
their Blut and Gut. Otherwise they may think 
twice about doing it. Even a half thought on 
the part of those who should think, but will not, 
would stop all wars more effectively than the 
building of a thousand peace palaces. This ap¬ 
plies to Germany as well as to France and Eng¬ 
land. It is not good to let the common people 
203 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

think too much. This is one of the basic rules 
of the Hohenzollerns. This is the foundation 
principle of every throne in Europe. In the jum¬ 
ble of European political and royal financial deals, 
the interests of the common soul are utterly lost. 


204 



CHAPTER XI 

THE BREWING STORM 

T HE month of July was unusually hot and 
sultry. All Nature was drooping under the 
stifling atmosphere. Those wise in the ways of 
Nature presaged a terrific thunderstorm, albeit 
there was never a cloud in the sky. And the 
general political conditions in Europe were al¬ 
most an exact counterpart of the atmospheric con¬ 
ditions. The situation between the leading pow¬ 
ers on the Continent had gradually arrived at 
such a pass that none of them exactly knew where 
they were or what would happen next. 

Economic conditions in Germany without be¬ 
ing bad were by no means good. The phenom¬ 
enal commercial prosperity starting about 1895 
and increasing by leaps and bounds up to its 
zenith in 1912 was toning down somewhat. The 
unprecedented influence of wealth had created 
an unheard-of taste for luxury and the prodigal 
spending of money, practises as a rule foreign 
to the frugal Teutonic temperament. Work- 
j 205 


V 



The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

shops and factories which had sprung up like 
mushrooms in a warm April shower and which 
had been working for ten years at full blast, em¬ 
ploying a vast number of men and paying a scale 
of wages previously unknown in the history of 
German manufacturing, found it necessary to 
curtail their activities to a considerable extent. 
Most of these industrial institutions had been 
running along on borrowed capital, lent, in many 
instances, by the State, and were suffering 
through overproduction consequent on the exist¬ 
ent general trade depressions. The Government, 
hard taxed by the ever-increasing army and navy 
expenditures, was unable to carry both burdens 
with any degree of safety, and began curtailing, 
not on army and navy budgets, but on the whole¬ 
sale assistance of commercial enterprises. The 
resultant reaction created a serious and distract¬ 
ing restlessness and discontent amongst all 
classes. As yet no actual pinch was felt, for with 
true Teutonic thrift, the great mass of the people 
had used the fifteen fat years to store up a vast 
amount of savings. 

The political situation was likewise involved 
and by no means satisfactory. That Germany 
was being forced into an almost complete isola- 
206 





The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

tion was well known to those at the head of af¬ 
fairs. The Emperor was aware of the existence 
of a strong alliance between England, France and 
Russia. This alliance, without being pleasing, 
was at least recognized and provided against. 
But the concerted efforts of England and France 
to draw Italy and Japan into the coalition against 
her acted on Germany much in the same manner 
that a bandarillo frenzies an already half-mad 
bull. The war party comprising the gun and 
powder interests (Germany, by the way, manu¬ 
factures and controls more than seventy per cent, 
of the powder and explosive output of the world), 
the greater number of the army and naval cliques 
and all those manufacturers interested purely in 
home and government supply was gaining rap¬ 
idly. These factions were headed by the Crown 
Prince and the aggressive feudal aristocracy. 
The Emperor himself, notwithstanding his para¬ 
doxical public attitude as the war lord of Europe, 
was very much adverse to putting his right to this 
title to an actual supreme test. He would have 
much preferred to obtain his ends with saber- 
rattlings and threats. In any event, his policy 
was to make war in his own good time. 

As yet the sky was clear. 

207 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

In England conditions were similar. Fiscal 
policy and preferential tariffs notwithstanding, 
British trade and commerce was suffering tre¬ 
mendous losses through Germany’s commercial 
enterprises. The rapidly increasing tonnage of 
the German merchant marine seriously disturbed 
the British shipping industries, the backbone of 
Britain’s power and wealth. Yearly growing 
more formidable, the German navy was becoming 
a distinct menace to England’s naval supremacy. 
Diplomatically England found Germany contin¬ 
ually trying with more or less success to break 
into her jealously-guarded possessions and priv¬ 
ileges. Her economic conditions similar to those 
of Germany were getting into a bad shape with 
this distinction: whereas Germany overproduced, 
England did not manufacture and export any¬ 
thing like' sufficient quantities to satisfy the de¬ 
mands of her industrial population. The result¬ 
ant dissatisfaction led to severe strikes, still 
further aggravating and almost paralyzing her 
commercial supremacy. Besides all this and in 
the face of the hundreds of years of peace and 
quasi-friendship between these two empires and 
the close relationship between the ruling families, 
208 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

England’s growing jealousy was merging rapidly 
into open distrust. The tentative advances and 
propositions of William II for an understanding 
and alliance were listened to, used to their ad¬ 
vantage, and promptly discarded. English di¬ 
plomacy, often unwarrantedly jeered at (much to 
England’s benefit and the discomfiture of her op¬ 
ponents), proved itself superior to that of Ger¬ 
many. John Bull has a strange faculty of pro¬ 
ducing at the most needed time men able and fit 
in every way to offset her usually startling blun¬ 
ders. While Lord Haldane was hobnobbing with 
the Kaiser and German municipalities were en¬ 
tertaining English civic dignitaries and journal¬ 
ists, Winston Churchill overhauled his fleet and 
Lord Kitchener took a trip to Belgium. . . . 

The result of this was a complete understand¬ 
ing between the General Staffs of England and 
Belgium. With the knowledge and cooperation 
of the Belgian government, English army offi¬ 
cers, traveling as civilians, were able to make a 
complete military survey of the country. Begin¬ 
ning with 1909 there was poured into the English 
General Staff a mass of information about Bel¬ 
gium the like of which for completeness and thor- 
209 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

oughness had been equaled by no army, not even 
the German. 

The English knew every square mile of Bel¬ 
gium. They knew the rate of marching their 
troops could make on every road. Highways 
suitable for the passage of heavy artillery were 
marked alongside those unsuitable. The number 
of Germans in the Belgian manufacturing centers 
was tabulated, likewise the current of every river 
and stream, the number of boats, and the number 
and strength of bridges. The English observers 
even ascended the steeples of every church in 
Belgium and marked down how much of the sur¬ 
rounding landscape could be seen, then recom¬ 
mended this or that steeple as an observation 
post. They knew the condition and number of 
every kind of railroad wagon in Belgium. Every 
conceivable bit of information about the rail¬ 
road systems, even to the different languages that 
each little station master spoke, was duly recorded. 
The preparations of the English General Staff 
went so far that they were able to give the Royal 
Aviation Corps minutely detailed books which 
described every available landing place in Bel¬ 
gium. By the spring of 1914 Lord Kitchener 
possessed information that could have enabled 
210 



A CHURCH CEREMONIAL AT TSARSKOL SELO 

% 

The Tsar, in the center, attending to church responsibilities 


















































































The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

him to have defended Belgium as well as he can 
defend England. 

As yet the sky was clear. 

A country about twice the size in area of the 
United States, with about the same amount of 
population, with natural resources in coal, iron 
and other minerals, with lumber forests and 
arable wheat lands comparable to those which no 
other land possesses, conscious of its inherent 
power, slowly but steadily awakening to its com¬ 
mercial possibilities, yet with no outlet for these 
potentialities: such is Russia. 

Time and again since the days of Catherine II 
(great only in the assimilation of variegated lov¬ 
ers!) has Russia tried to gain an outlet into more 
convenient, especially warmer waters. She has 
tried it north and was defeated by Charles XII 
of Sweden with the assistance of the forebears 
of the Prussian kings; she has tried it south, and 
was defeated by England and France through the 
disinclination of Prussia balancing the scale on 
her side; she has tried it east and was defeated by 
Japan which, even with the assistance of England, 
could never have ousted Russia if Austria at the 
time, egged on by Germany, had not made aggres- 
211 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

sive demonstrations against Russia on her Balkan 
frontiers. 

The first visible results of Russia’s defeat in 
the East was the acquisition of Herzegovina and 
Bosnia by Austria-Hungary, which Russia, with¬ 
out the balance of power in Europe, being seri¬ 
ously disturbed by her weakness, resulting from 
the eastern fiasco, would never have tolerated. 
Without doubt, the balance of power underwent 
a sudden shifting of its scales. Previous to the 
eastern war Russia was always more or less 
feared by Germany. It was the unswerving pol¬ 
icy of Bismarck, that shrewd judge of European 
affairs and prince of diplomatic jugglers, to pla¬ 
cate and keep on the good side of Russia. Not 
since the campaigns of Frederick the Great of 
Prussia during the Seven Years’ War were Teu¬ 
ton and Muscovite in actual battle array against 
each other. 

There are in the royal Prussian secret archives 
in Berlin strict injunctions and instructions as 
regards Prussian (German) relations toward 
Russia in the handwriting of Frederick the Great, 
that past master in diplomatic craft. Were these 
instructions laid down by an autocratic king reg¬ 
ulating, foreseeing and warning his successors 


212 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

against antagonizing the other still more feudal 
power implicitly followed, there would have been 
seen unquestionably a different grouping of the 
powers warring against each other to-day in Eu¬ 
rope. 

That Germany has looked with envious eyes on 
Russia is past a doubt. A little more or less of 
her territory she did not want. But what Ger¬ 
many did desire was such an alliance with Russia 
that she could hedge and even perhaps dictate her 
policies. “Russia,” said Bismarck, “offers won¬ 
derful material for the making of history, let but 
its feminine type of population be interbred with 
our strong, masculine Germans.” Emperor Wil¬ 
liam, writing in the same vein, gave voice to the 
opinion that Slavonic people are not a nation, but 
rather soil on which a nation with a history might 
grow. Destiny, probably for true freedom, lib¬ 
erty, and for the best of the human race, ordained 
it otherwise. Just imagine Russia and Germany, 
the two most autocratic, virile and aggressive 
powers in the world, going with, instead of 
against, each other! The possible and probable 
outcome staggers conception. 

Modern German diplomacy, however, saw fit to 
inaugurate and follow a different course, resulting 
213 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

in the apparent repeated humiliation of Russia. 
The Muscovite, true to his Tartaric semi-Asiatic 
origin, never forgets nor forgives. With gen¬ 
uine Asiatic patience and cunning he bided his 
time, and that time was approaching fast. In the 
meanwhile, internal disturbances such as the Jew¬ 
ish question (ritual murder), revolutionary out¬ 
breaks in Odessa, and general strikes throughout 
the empire as well as the unsatisfactory financial 
situation of Russia, gave an apparent impression 
of total weakness, deceiving to those not inti¬ 
mately well acquainted with the Russian phe¬ 
nomena. For it must be remembered that, with¬ 
out doubt, the most puzzling phenomenon in Eu¬ 
ropean affairs has been and is the analogous Rus¬ 
sian empire. 

William II was not slow in making or trying 
to make good capital out of Russia’s apparent in¬ 
ability to resent Austro-Germanic aggression in 
the Balkans, a matter that was brought into and 
explained in “The Secrets of the German War 
Office” in the Balkan Chapter. Humiliated and 
resentful, Russia lent a willing ear to Anglo- 
French overtures. With true Muscovite cunning 
she prepared for eventualities, as will be seen 
later, with a secrecy only possible in and under- 
214 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

standable by those acquainted with Russia. As 
previously shown, geographical necessity, a fierce 
hatred judiciously fostered by Rasputin and the 
Grand Dukes against all things Teutonic, and the 
necessity to divert the restless public attention, 
made Russia a very willing and potential con¬ 
ductor in the highly electrified atmosphere of 
Europe. 

And still the sky was clear. 

France of all nations in Europe had no eco¬ 
nomic or commercial reason to either wish or 
seek trouble. A characteristic of her sentimental 
Gallic temperament, the romantic but injudicious 
habit of decorating the Strassburg monument in 
Paris, kept ever smoldering a desire to regain 
the lost provinces. Not that these provinces re¬ 
gained would have made any valuable acquisition, 
Alsace-Lorraine, very much like Ireland, is a sort 
of Pandora’s box. Time os danaos et dona fev¬ 
ent es. When they are French they want to be 
German: when they are German they want to be 
French. But no one has been able to fathom 
French sentiment. Geniuses like Richelieu and 
Bonaparte were able to use this most potent of 
human emotions without really understanding it, 

215 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

often to the great and temporary advantage of 
France. Neither of them, however, was able to 
guard against the inevitable reaction. The con¬ 
sequent result, in common with all violent mental 
eruptions, was a physical exhaustion, taking the 
form of super-moral decadence which has as its 
concomitant a decline in propagation and com¬ 
mercial virility ominously evident in modern 
France; that is, previous to the outbreak of the 
war. Uneasily aware of her inability to cope 
singly with her robust and aggressive northern 
neighbor, and afraid of a repetition of the days of 
Sedan and Metz, France was frenziedly willing 
to enter any alliance promising support and as¬ 
sistance against Germany. To this end France 
had loaned huge sums of money to Russia, but it 
was only on the advent of England’s joining the 
Dual Alliance and making it the Entente Cordiale 
that France felt any sense of security. With 
characteristic impetuosity, France lost no time in 
impressing the changed situation upon Germany, 
with the result that the carefully fostered quarter 
of a century long endeavor of the German Em¬ 
peror to placate France was swept away over 
night and the somewhat bearish good natured- 
ness of Germany toward France reverted to the 
216 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

old antagonism. This reawakened martial spirit 
in France, assiduously fostered by England, and 
the personal antagonism of certain French cabi¬ 
net officers towards His Imperial Majesty, con¬ 
stituted another wire surcharged with positive 
electricity needing only a requisite point of con¬ 
tact to discharge a pretty solid flash of lightning. 

And still the sky was clear. 

One of the most analogous empires of modern 
times is the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary. 
It is composed of twenty-six distinct nationalities. 
Out of a population of 51,000,000, about one-half 
is Teutonic; of the remainder, Hungary with 21,- 
000,000 millions is most of the time, that is, under 
given circumstances, in sympathy with Teutonic 
ideas and aspirations. The rest, of Slavonic and 
Chechic origin and tendencies, is diametrically op¬ 
posed to the Germanic element. Added to this is 
a section bordering Italy including the Trentino 
and Dalmatia which is purely Italian in intent 
and proclivities. This conglomerate empire is 
held together solely by the prestige of the head of 
the House of Hapsburg, Francis Joseph II; even 
at that, it has more than once been on the point of 
disintegration. 


217 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


Of the two leading Teutonic royal houses, that' 
of Hohenzollern and that of Hapsburg, the 
former has outdistanced the latter, often after a 
bitter and protracted war, as in the case of Fred¬ 
erick the Great’s Seven Years’ War against Maria 
Teresia and in 1866 the struggle over the posses¬ 
sion of Schleswig-Holstein, ending in the Battle 
of Koeniggratz (Sadowa), one of the most bloody 
battles of modern history. Notwithstanding this, 
Prussian diplomacy had gained such an ascend¬ 
ancy over the House of Hapsburg and the affairs 
of Austria, that Austria has been and is a staunch 
ally and supported by Germany in all its aims and 
ambitions. This alliance is developed to such an 
extent that even an heir apparent to the Austrian 
empire unless acceptable to and identified with 
Prusso-Germanic interests finds it impossible to 
ascend the throne. 

Erzherzog Rudolph, the archduke, next in suc¬ 
cession, was mysteriously killed at Mayerling, an 
obscure little hunting lodge in upper Austria. 
Much has been written and many conjectures 
made about the circumstances of this lamentable 
tragedy. The real reason, so vast in its impor¬ 
tance, has of necessity never been divulged. 

On a blustery and cold January night in 1889 
218 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


His Royal Highness and the Baroness Marie 
Vetzera (Vetchera) were familiarly seated 
around a plain but daintily spread supper table in 
the hunting lodge of Mayerling. They were at¬ 
tended by Max and Otto K-, two brothers 

much trusted in the archducal household. Sup¬ 
per was nearly finished and the Prince, who was 
very fond of a certain brand of champagne, had 
just given the order to Otto for another couple of 
bottles, when the deep baying of the Prince’s fa¬ 
vorite deerhound gave notice of the approach of 
strangers. A dull thud and the agonized yelp of 
the dog made the Prince jump up and stride to¬ 
ward the door, which was guarded by Max. 
Pushing the servant aside, His Royal Highness 
pulled the door open. Three men muffied up to 
their eyes in great coats roughly forced their way 
into the room. In a trice the leader of the trio 
pinioned Max to the wall. The Archduke, who 
had jumped back startled and was reseating him¬ 
self behind the supper table, demanded the reason 
for this intrusion, when the smallest of the three, 
supposedly the brother of the Baroness Vetzera, 
laid hold of a bottle of champagne and brought 
the weapon down with terrific force on his unpro¬ 
tected head, completely crushing the skull. The 
219 



The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


Baroness, who apparently had recognized one of 
the three intruders, was hysterically screaming 
and uttering dire threats and vengeance against 
the perpetrators of this foul deed. As she stood 
there, gripping the edges of the table, the third, 
standing at the door, raised his Stutzen (a short 
hunting gun in great favor in the Austrian Alps), 
and fired point blank at the unfortunate woman, 
almost blowing her head to pieces. 

The commotion brought Otto from the wine 
cellar, and, taking in the situation at a glance, he 
threw himself fiercely upon the intruders, ably 
assisted by his brother Max, who also began at¬ 
tacking his captor. They managed to dispose of 
one of the assailants when again the gun rang out, 
sending Max to the floor with his chest almost 
torn to ribbons. The next moment Otto received 
a Hirsch-fdnger ( a hunting dagger) between his 
shoulders. Dragging their wounded conspirator 
with them, the two assassins disappeared into the 
night. From that day to this there have never 
been any arrests made or any one held to account 
for this dastardly deed. 

Otto, who was left for dead, on regaining suffi¬ 
cient strength decently covered the bodies with 
table cloths and napkins, and left a short pencil 
22 o 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

written account of the occurrences pinned on to 
his brother’s clothes. He also disappeared in the 
night; for he well knew the consequences at¬ 
tached to an even entirely innocent witnessing of 
such a royal family tragedy. Old, gray and bent, 
Otto is living to this day the quiet life of a hermit 
and exile not five hundred miles from New York 
City. Money would never make Otto talk, but 
some day the upheaval in Europe may provide an 
occasion when this old retainer of the House of 
Hapsburg may unseal his lips; and then woe to 
the guilty. 

Rudolph of Hapsburg had to the full the proud 
instinctive dislike to, and rooted disinclination 
against, the ever increasing Germanic influence 
in and over his country. He died. 1 

A cipher telegram handed into Captain von 
Tapken visibly perturbed this usually very unruf¬ 
fled gentleman, and such was his agitation that he 
immediately left for the Wilhelmstrasse to con¬ 
sult with Count Wedell, the Emperor’s Secret 

1 The above account of the tragedy of Mayerling, notwithstand¬ 
ing the “proof” of the Crown Prince’s supposed suicide con¬ 
tained in the letters alleged to have been written by him to his 
confidant and friend Ambassador Szoegyenyi and to the “Duke 
of Braganza,” is the correct one, and will be proved when the 
venerable head of the House of Hapsburg shall have passed away. 

The Author. 


221 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Service Chief. The Count likewise stared 
blankly at the translation and after a few hasty 
orders, hurried to the castle to consult his royal 
master. This cipher telegram was evidently of 
startling importance. The German Secret Serv¬ 
ice agent in Belgium had ascertained that a cer¬ 
tain English party was making an extended tour 
of travel and inspection through Belgium. Any 
party interested in Prussian, Belgian and Franco- 
Belgian border affairs is likewise interesting to 
the powers in Berlin. If it includes such eminent 
men as the English party did, it receives their 
thorough and undivided attention. Here was 
Lord Kitchener accompanied by some of the lead¬ 
ing military experts and draughtsmen of the 
British army touring up and down the Belgian 
frontiers. Berlin was asking itself: Why? To 
inspect the dairies? No! Lord Kitchener does 
not interest himself in cows. Why the presence 
of these expert draughtsmen? To paint quaint 
pictures of the canals and dykes? No! Lord 
Kitchener does not permit British army officers 
to dabble in paint. Then why ? 

The news of this inspection came on top of in¬ 
disputable information but lately gained that the 
Belgian forts of Liege, Namur, etc., were heavily 
222 



PRINCE VON BUELOW 

Former chancellor and intimate friend of the Kaiser, who, 
notwithstanding his friendship, was forced to retire 




























































The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

strengthened at an approximate cost of two mil¬ 
lions of francs, of which only one-third was pro¬ 
vided by the Belgian government. Who had 
furnished the rest? Paraguay or Ecuador? 
No wonder Berlin was somewhat disturbed. 

The House of Brabant, distinctly French in 
sympathies and at no time over friendly to the 
Hohenzollerns, was represented by an unusually 
clever and courageous king. King Albert of 
Belgium is also ambitious. This ambition was 
shrewdly used by France and England to the 
furtherance of their policies. 

The sky was not quite so clear. 

In a moment of more then usually pronounced 
lapsis mentalis the Austrian powers that be de¬ 
cided on a Crown Princely visit to the lately ac¬ 
quired provinces of Herzegovina and Bosnia. 
It was probably the idea and intention to instill 
some much needed patriotism into these extremely 
unwilling must-be Hapsburgers. Under even 
ordinary circumstances, this visit would have 
been ill-advised. In the face of existent condi- 
tions, the unsettled state of these provinces and 
the fomenting trouble with Serbia, it was nothing 
short of criminal. One is almost led to believe 
223 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

that the Government actually courted some such 
catastrophe as actually happened; or else the men 
whose business it should be to know these things 
must have been more than ordinarily stupid. 
The result of this ill-fated state visit was the 
assassination of the Crown Prince of Austria and 
his consort. That in itself was shocking and 
bad enough. The furiously bitter attitude of the 
Austrian people towards Serbia, the supposed in¬ 
stigator of the assassination, made it worse. The 
extremely harsh and unrelenting personal de¬ 
mands of Francis Joseph II brought it to a break¬ 
ing point. 

A blue-black, sinister-looking cloud was ap¬ 
pearing on the southern horizon. 

Forty-eight hours after the Austrian ultimatum 
was presented to the Serbian government, Ras¬ 
putin, the Tsar’s familiar, accompanied by the 
son of the Grand Duke Nicholas, left the Peter- 
hof, the summer residence of the Tsar. Tucked 
away in his cassock was a ukase personally signed 
by the Tsar, ordering every commander along the 
entire Russo-Austrian frontiers to prepare with 
the utmost speed and secrecy their respective sta¬ 
tions. So craftily did Rasputin go about this 
224 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

mission that even the argus-eyed German Secret 
Service failed to detect anything unusual until 
up to four days before the actual outbreak of hos¬ 
tilities. When finally they did obtain conclusive 
proofs of Russian activity, Emperor William 
sent his famous ultimatum to the Tsar, giving 
Russia exactly four days’ time for decision, the 
Emperor using the four days’ limit as a hint to 
Russia that her secret mobilization was already 
known in Berlin. 

Allied with Rasputin the Grand Duke Nicolai 
Nicolaievitch was ruling Russia. A man of 
boundless ambition, shrewd, but more moral than 
the Grand Dukes that Paris knows, Nicolai is the 
one big man in Russia. He wants to be the Tsar. 
The Russian Emperor knows that; so does Ras¬ 
putin. Rasputin does not want him to be Tsar. 
It would mean that Rasputin’s power would be 
curtailed. Rasputin could not handle a man like 
Nicolai Nicolaievitch. Ruler of the army, Nic¬ 
olai studied the lessons of the Japanese war and 
made it a new army. Artillery fascinated him, 
which is why the Russian artillery is to-day effi¬ 
cient. War also fascinated him. War would 
make him an even greater hero with his army. 

225 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Some day with the army at his back—who 
knows ? 

When the Tsar ordered Nicolai to evacuate 
Warsaw before the invasion of Hindenburg, 
Nicolai sent word that if the Tsar insisted he 
would withdraw his forces—but he would march 
at the head of his army to Petrograd. The Tsar 
told him to hold Warsaw. 

Wanting war, Nicolai had an understanding 
with Rasputin. Perhaps he showed himself a lit¬ 
tle cleverer than Rasputin. This chance to make 
himself a popular hero might open the way to the 
throne, which would mean the fall of Rasputin’s 
power. Or did Rasputin think to kill two birds, 
to take his revenge upon the German Emperor 
and to break the Grand Duke by a disastrous war 
—who knows ? 

It has become known though, through the un¬ 
derground channels of Europe, that Nicolai made 
the Tsar a prisoner in his own castle. With the 
support of the court, that was afraid of him and 
that was contemptuous of the Tsar, Nicolai com¬ 
pelled the Little Father to continue to flaunt war 
in the face of Germany. 

A purple-black cloud was rushing over the 
western horizon. 


226 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


South and west storm clouds were banking; 
east and west an ominous muttering was heard; 
denser and denser became the atmosphere; the 
whole of Europe was gasping and trembling be¬ 
fore this approaching storm. It needed only the 
Austrian Emperor’s declaration of war against 
Serbia to set the mass of clouds rushing at each 
other and discharging a flood of electricity that 
threatened to strike the whole of Europe to the 
heart’s core. The black box of the old Hohenzol¬ 
lerns was unlocked; the Emperor was ready to 
go to war. 


227 


CHAPTER XII 

THE UNACCOUNTED FACTOR 

I T is an old saying that curses, like chickens, 
come home to roost. In the same manner do 
ill-advised diplomatic faux-pas invariably re¬ 
sult for the perpetrator in situations often very 
dangerous. It is inexplicable but nevertheless 
a fact that Germany, up-to-date, scientific and 
studious in all other things, has made in her dip¬ 
lomatic relations some very palpable and disas¬ 
trous blunders. 

The utter astonishment of the greater mass 
of the German people at the rather unsympathetic, 
not to say antagonistic, attitude entertained by 
Americans toward the Fatherland borders almost 
on naivete. But Germany has no one save her¬ 
self to blame for this unsympathetic feeling to¬ 
ward her by the American people. Americans 
have the very commendable habit of minding 
their own business. At the same time, they pos¬ 
sess a rooted dislike and resentment to any inter¬ 
ference, however slight, in continental Ameri- 
228 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

can affairs. This dislike is clearly shown in the 
promulgation of the Monroe Doctrine. On the 
other hand, Americans, who as a rule have no 
great love or liking for England, are showing to¬ 
day a distinct sentimental partiality toward Great 
Britain. The reasons, although evidently over¬ 
looked by Germany, present no difficulty in trac- 
ing. The following incidents may benefit those 
whose voices are raised so loudly against this 
very natural attitude of the greater number of 
Americans: 

Although Germany has become nearly the lead¬ 
ing commercial nation in the world, deriving 
therefrom most of her wealth and power, the men 
of influence with different ideals, aims and ambi¬ 
tions were disposed to look down upon all other 
more purely commercial nations with a sort of 
contemptuous indifference as to their capability 
of ever becoming a military factor to be reckoned 
with. To no country has Germany shown this 
contempt more than to America. This is, of 
course, meant in a purely military sense; the 
wealth and power of the United States in other 
matters was always fully recognized by Germany. 

This haughtily scornful attitude received a mild 
shock through the belligerent disposition and 
229 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

drastic manner with which the United States 
went into and handled the Cuban question. So 
displeasing was this revelation of Yankee martial- 
ism to the powers at the Wilhelmstrasse that, 
without being in any way interested in the casus 
belli and admittedly holding no brief for Spain, 
they still saw fit to try to intimidate the United 
States in favor of Spain. The Emperor could 
not brook the idea of a republic trying to best a 
monarchy. Republics are one of the German 
Emperor’s pet aversions. How dared a plain, or¬ 
dinary human being, even if seated in the White 
House, threaten and declare war against one of 
the Lord’s anointed! We, Wilhelm, by and 
with the Grace of God, will see! He did see; in 
fact, unless blind, he is seeing still. 

The sending of a German squadron to Manila 
Bay was one of the worst personal blunders of 
which William II has ever been guilty. It was an 
added unfortunate circumstance that the German 
officer in command, Admiral von Dietrich, a 
rather short-tempered, arrogant martinet, bore a 
personal grudge against Admiral Dewey, the 
commander of the United States fleet. Without 
doubt Admiral von Dietrich exceeded his instruc¬ 
tions; nevertheless, the whole business was a 
230 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

grievous mistake, which is bearing bitter fruit to 
this day. 

The resentment of the American people soon 
made itself felt in Germany. The Emperor, en¬ 
deavoring to make good his mistake, approached 
McKinley, suggesting a visit by his brother to the 
United States. The quiet, unassuming, thor¬ 
oughly American gentleman at the White House 
received this suggestion with no enthusiasm. 
Under the next administration the overtures met 
with more success, however, and promptly His 
Royal Highness, Prince Henry of Prussia, 
brother to the Emperor of Germany and Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the German Highsea Fleets, 
appeared on the scene. 

From beginning to end, the vist of His Royal 
Highness was a huge success. The genial af¬ 
fability and sailorly tact and bearing of the Prince 
made him a universal favorite. He was feted, 
dined and wined from one end of the country to 
the other. American society trotted out its best 
frocks and largest diamonds much to the goggle- 
eyed astonishment of some of the Prussian aris¬ 
tocrats. “Diamond tiaras for breakfast? Hm! 
Great people, the Americans! Eh, what, Kam- 
erad?” 


231 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

Prince Henry was extremely democratic while 
in the United States. He shook hands with any 
and everybody and went through stunts such as 
the filling of glasses at a famous dinner party, 
the driving of an express train in greasy overalls, 
and the high jinks at the New York Metropoli¬ 
tan Club dinner, that would have made his il¬ 
lustrious brother’s eyes water. 

At the last mentioned memorable occasion, the 
Prince no doubt had the time of his life. The 
late J. P. Morgan had invited about twenty-five 
of his most intimate cronies to meet His Royal 
Highness at a stag dinner party at the Metropoli¬ 
tan Club. The royal barouche with the Prince 
and his friend Bob Evans, closely followed by the 
hansom occupied by his bodyguard, dashed 
through the gates, which were immediately closed 
and locked. Prince Henry was received by his 
host, and, after mutual introductions, sojourned 
to the bar where three Scotch and sodas were im¬ 
bibed in as many minutes. Stories, snappy and 
crisp, began to circulate, there being present some 
past masters in the art of telling stories with the 
point delicate . The Scotch and stories created a 
pretty torrid temperature, and J. P. Morgan, be¬ 
ginning to feel rather pent up in his stiff full 
232 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

dress coat, suggested peeling off this cumbersome 
badge of respectability. This was received with 
fervid acclamations. The Prince, after a startled 
glance at his guide and mentor, Bob Evans, who, 
whimsically grinning began peeling off his coat, 
shed his garment with a relieved, “Rather odd, 
Evans, but damned comfortable all the same.” 

More Scotch and soda. 

Then the great financier announced dinner in 
the following classical words, “Come on, boys and 
grab some eats.” They did “grab the eats,” for 
the world’s best food and wine was to be had for 
the grabbing. 

The center of the table was covered with an 
enormous paper doily folded in the form of a 
bishop’s mitre surrounded by masses of American 
Beauty roses. The dishes were scarcely removed 
and the glasses filled up than the host rose and 
cautioned his table companions, “Boys, grab 
what’s coming and grab it quick.” 

Pressing a button, the paper doily broke and, 
on a rising platform appeared ten of the most 
beauteous maidens. With a roar of applause the 
hostly injunction was obeyed. Nor was the 
Prince the last to join the fun. 

All this may seem very shocking to those not 
233 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

accustomed to cosmopolitan experience. For a 
matter of fact, however, there was no hint of 
license or vulgarity in the surprise. It was one 
of those occasions where jollity and good fellow¬ 
ship reign supreme, occasions that bring men of 
that stamp closer together in five minutes than 
stiff diplomacy or high finance would in five 
years. The Prince had a bully good time; but 
one would like to picture His Imperial brother’s 
face if he could have seen Heinrich sitting in shirt 
sleeves with his collar wilted, clinking glasses, 
singing songs, and, most of all, hugely enjoying 
it . 1 

Amongst the princely baggage was a trunk full 
of souvenirs and orders. There was no lack of 
willing recipients; in fact, the story is current 
that towards the end of the itinerary some of the 
Prince’s suite were obliged to part with their 
minor decorations to still the heartache of a 
certain Krieger-Vereine President of Chicago. 
Strange this desire for titles and decorations in 
an avowed democratic republic! Is it possible 

1 The absolute authenticity of the above incident occurring dur- 
the Prince Henry’s visit is vouched for and corroborated by the 
leading member of the Prince’s bodyguard while in New York: 
Detective-Sergeant William M. Duggan, now Captain of Police. 


234 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

that William II is right after all? One wonders, 
wonders, wonders. . . . 

This visit, let it be remembered, was purely one 
of friendship and good will. Nevertheless Ger¬ 
many never neglects a single opportunity to ob¬ 
tain valuable information and this American tour 
was no exception. In the Prince’s suite were ex¬ 
perts of various kinds who made full use of their 
powers. The following incident is illuminating. 

The Prince was reviewing the German-Ameri- 
can Krieger-Vereine, Sanger-Biinde and allied 
associations of New York. Steadily to martial 
music the massed thousands were swinging past. 
When the last line had filed by, one of the Prince’s 
aides snapped his watch close and, saluting, re¬ 
ported, “Ninety-seven minutes, Your Royal 
Highness.” Immediately a second officer re¬ 
ported, “Sixty-six thousand five hundred.” 

This close scrutiny, timing and counting was 
followed in every city visited. It was reported 
and noted that by the end of his visit Prince 
Plenry had reviewed three hundred and twenty 
thousand Germans, mostly of the ages between 
twenty-five and forty. 

If Germany has neglected to account the sen- 
235 




The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

timent of America as a neutral commercial fac¬ 
tor, the direct possibilities of the United States 
entering the war have not been lost sight of by the 
master minds of the General Staff. There are 
docketed in their respective pigeon holes in the 
archives of the Grosse (General) Stab more cor¬ 
rect data on American army and navy matters 
than congressional investigators and committees 
are able to obtain. They have more correct sta¬ 
tistics of the number of Germans resident in the 
United States, their organizations, etc., than will 
be found in the official census bureau in Washing¬ 
ton. According to their information there are 
13,476,000 German-Americans, of whom 3,160,- 
000 were born German citizens. Out of this 
number 285,000 are trained men and reservists. 
The possession of such information was perhaps 
responsible for the German belief in America’s 
sympathy in her cause. Likewise Americans 
should study these figures in all seriousness, for 
who knows what the times may bring forth? 

The success of the princely visit helped to a 
great extent to obscure the Manila incident and 
reestablish friendly relations. Another very po¬ 
tent factor was the sympathetic feeling between 
the Administration and the Court at Berlin, for 
236 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

was not Alice Roosevelt received with royal hon¬ 
ors? Emperor William and Colonel Roosevelt, 
the then President, have very much in common. 
Both are strong men, both are great believers in 
themselves, and both are great opportunists. 
Those two men could understand and appreciate 
each other. 

The decidedly favorable attitude toward Ger¬ 
many lasted throughout the Roosevelt adminis¬ 
trations. Unfortunately, however, Germany did 
not follow up her good lead. The Emperor and 
his advisers, keenly alive to most of the equa¬ 
tions in the art of successful government, have 
always neglected the force and value of public 
opinion in other countries save their own. The 
Emperor does not believe in vox populi, vox Dei. 

Contrary to her usual policy but with clever 
farsightedness, England has managed to change 
the inherent dislike of the Americans, if not ex¬ 
actly to regard, at least to a good deal of sub¬ 
stantial sympathy. This is the result of care¬ 
fully planned and executed social and press cam¬ 
paigns dating back at least four years. The of- 
^en belittled and sneered at inter-marriages be¬ 
tween the plutocracy of America and the aris¬ 
tocracy of England have brought profitable re- 
^37 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

suits, at least for Great Britain. With unusual 
forbearance and tolerance England has refrained 
during the last decade from irritating the people 
of the United States. In innumerable small 
ways, singly insignificant, collectively of great 
importance, the two countries have become more 
and more friendly. The “beastly Yankee ,, be¬ 
came a “bally American,” and “Uncle Sam” 
changed into “Brother Jonathan” and “Hands 
Across the Sea.” 

England with shrewd farsightedness, well 
knowing and fully recognizing the importance of 
public opinion, carefully prepared the way. Ger¬ 
many, underrating the practical value of this 
opinion, neglected it almost entirely, a piece of 
shortsightedness likely to change the whole trend 
of affairs as far as Germany is concerned. 

The Great General Staff in Berlin knew the 
general unpreparedness of England and her al¬ 
lies and was convinced of their inability to pro¬ 
duce arms and ammunition in sufficient quantities 
to equip the possible number of men they could 
put in the field, or to make good the wastes result¬ 
ing from a war. It seems never to have entered 
into their calculations that outside nations would 
be able to supply in any appreciable amount the 
238 



The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

needed war materials. Least of all were the 
United States considered able or likely to become 
a factor as a source of supply. In too closely 
watching Europe, Germany had almost entirely 
neglected keeping herself informed on the possi- 
bilities of the private ammunition and small arms 
concerns of the United States. In any event, it 
was considered unlikely that the United States, 
having no direct interests at stake, would assist 
either one party or the other. Satisfied that she 
herself needed no assistance, Germany believed 
that a balance of opinion would keep the States 
from assisting the other nations. In short, the 
United States remaining neutral was not con¬ 
sidered a factor. 

It is the old case of the rift within the lute. 
The hundreds of millions worth of materials of 
all descriptions bought by the Allies here in 
America will prove a very deciding factor in the 
outcome of the struggle in Europe. Germany 
has been realizing this too late, and all the 
frenzied newspaper and other campaigns and 
counter-campaigns will not alter this state of af¬ 
fairs. The senseless attacks on the United States 
government, especially on the heads of the Ad¬ 
ministration by hyphenated sympathizers of either 
239 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

side, are simply a waste of effort, the only likely 
result being bitterness and ill-feeling amongst 
themselves. At a time when the rest of the world 
is evidently suffering from a virulent species of 
animus insanity, it is absolutely necessary for the 
American people to be wholly in accord amongst 
themselves. This internal peace can best be 
maintained by refusing to recognize any other 
claims or interests save those of their own coun¬ 
try, and by staunchly supporting the Chief Ex¬ 
ecutive in his policy of keeping out of all strife. 

Some day when the high waves of feeling shall 
have subsided, and the now conflicting interests 
have found a more common level, the excellent at¬ 
titude and position taken by President Wilson as 
regards the relations of the United States with 
the warring powers will give him a place in the 
history of this country on a level with those of 
Washington and Lincoln. To keep a vastly rich 
and powerful country, teeming with over ninety 
million people mostly composed of descendants of 
men from the present belligerent European coun¬ 
tries, from rushing headlong into war and con¬ 
sequent incalculable misery and loss, is truly a 
Herculean task. What an amount of conflicting 
influence and pressure is brought to bear upon 
240 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


the Chief Executive of the most powerful neutral 
country on earth is known only to himself. But 
there is every reason to believe that the level¬ 
headed, truly clean American at the White House 
will go uninfluenced the even tenor of his way, 
Strong in the convictions that his stand is the only 
sane one to take for the best interests of his coun¬ 
try. 

The Sphinx of the White House is a true sym¬ 
bol of America, the unaccounted factor. 


241 


CHAPTER XIII 


THE ANSWER 

T HE telefunken expert, Heinrich Drechsel, 
was sitting at his instrument in the wireless 
tower at Kiel idly listening to the various conver¬ 
sations passing invisibly through the ether. 

“Click! Click! Click! S.M.I. . . . S.M.I. 

. . . S.M.I. . . ” 

Idleness was gone. Alert, with a few deft 
manipulations of his tuning keys, he answered the 
call, sending out the silence order at the same in¬ 
stant. 

“S.M.I.” preceded every other call in Germany. 
It is the Emperor's code signal. 

Dots . . . dashes . . . and numerals were 
pouring in from the Berlin station. It was his 
duty to transmit them to the Hohenzollern steam¬ 
ing somewhere about the Norwegian coast. . . . 

“Pss! Cackle! Crackle! Pss!” sputtered the 
instrument on board Seine Majestdt Schiff. Ho¬ 
henzollern. 

242 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

A bell tinkled. 

The officer in charge of the wireless room, who 
was playing Skat with his two comrades, laid 
down his hand and clapped on the receiver. 
With a grimace, he remarked, “More messages 
from the Spas-Voegelchen.” It is a standing 
joke on board the Hohenzollern that not a day 
passes but that the Emperor receives a dozen 
messages from his only daughter, who usually 
sends all sorts of funny titbits which earned her 
the sobriquet of Spas-Vogel (the Joking Bird). 

The grin disappeared and with a sharp, “Atten¬ 
tion. . . . Number One, to your station. Num¬ 
ber Two, to your desk,” the officer bent his atten¬ 
tion to his task. 

Sharp and quickly the numbers flowed from 
his lips to be immediately taken down and trans¬ 
lated by the other two. 

“F.F.F.” sputtered the instrument, and be¬ 
came silent. Blankly the three men looked at 
each other. With a white face and a muttered, 
“Oh Hell!” the officer in charge rushed out of the 
cabin to the Emperor’s quarters. 

Within three minutes the bow of the Hohen¬ 
zollern was turned due south, racing at full speed 
for home waters. . . . 

^43 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 


Dark and silent, six of the fastest German tor¬ 
pedo boat destroyers were plowing along the 
north coast of Denmark, on the bridge the com¬ 
mander of each with night glasses glued to his 
eyes. It was their duty to pick up the Hohen- 
zollern and convoy her safely into port. 

On the horizon a white ghost-like hull, a white 
bone in her teeth—the feathered seawash of a 
fast-going vessel—. 

Two green balls and a red answered by two 
red balls and a green. 

The destroyers swung to. One ahead. One 
astern. Two on each side. 

On they swept. . . . 

On the imperial landing pier of the naval yards 
in Kiel two groups of men awaited the coming of 
the Hohenzollern. In front, Frederick Wilhelm, 
Crown Prince of Germany and heir apparent to 
the throne, with his uncle Henry of Prussia, Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the German Highsea Fleets. 
In the second group the tall spare figure of von 
Bethmann-Hollweg, Chancellor of the German 
Empire, was easily distinguished. Standing close 
to him were two equally easily recognized person¬ 
ages, von Tirpitz, Grand Admiral of the German 
244 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

navy, and von Moltke, Chief of Staff of the Im- 
perial army. 

They were conversing in whispers, casting anx¬ 
ious glances toward the entrance of the harbor. 

The booming salute of the outer guardship 
drew a relieved, “Ah! at last.” 

Without coming to anchor, the Hohenzollern 
dropped a hooded barcasse which speeded to the 
landing. The groups moved forward and si¬ 
lently saluted the solitary figure emerging from 
the boat. A quick handshake with son and 
brother, and the Emperor taking von Hollweg’s 
arm entered the awaiting auto and was driven top 
speed to his special train. 

It is a significant fact that the Emperor was in 
Berlin twenty-four hours before his return was 
officially acknowledged. . . . 

In the General Staff building in Berlin there is 
a small, dingy, unpretentious room where at mo¬ 
ments of stress and tension of international com¬ 
plications, assemble five men. His Majesty, the 
Emperor of Germany, Commander-in-Chief of all 
the German armies, sits at the head of a plain 
oblong oak table; to the right, the Chief of the 
General Staff; to the left, His Minister of War; 

245 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

then the Chief of the Admiralty Staff and the 
Minister of Railways. When those five men 
meet, the influence of the diplomatic and financial 
affairs has ceased. They are there to act. The 
scratching of the Emperor’s pen in that room 
means war, the setting in motion of a fighting 
force of 5,000,000 men. 

Four men were already assembled in this room. 
Von Moltke, von Tirpitz, General von Heerin- 
gen and von Wackerzapp were awaiting the en¬ 
trance of the Emperor. William II was closeted 
in strict seclusion with the head of the House of 
Ehrenkrug and the Imperial Chancellor. 

The door opened. The Emperor entered, es¬ 
corted by the two above-named men. Standing at 
the head of the table he looked first at Ehrenkrug, 
then at Hollweg, and in a distinct voice asked, 
“I have your message, and you have mine. The 
answer?” 

Ehrenkrug, stepping forward and taking the Em¬ 
peror’s right hand repeated slowly and solemnly 
three times, “Do thou thy duty as thy forebears 
have done before thee.” Bending low he kissed 
the Emperor’s hand, saluted the others and left. 

The scratch of a pen. 

Europe ran red. 


246 


CHAPTER XIV 

VIA VICTIS 

A FTER nine months of unprecedented slaugh¬ 
ter, inconceivable sacrifices and efforts on 
all sides, the situation is this: Germany holds 
the whole of Belgium, a goodly strip of northern 
France and strategic positions in Russian Po¬ 
land. There is at present no enemy within eighty 
kilometers of any German territory. Possession 
of Belgium and the occupation of the northern 
French provinces give Germany a decided ad¬ 
vantage. The main efforts of the Allies, espe¬ 
cially of England, are to thrash the German army 
back on to German territory and compel the relin¬ 
quishing of Belgium. If they will be successful 
in this, time only will show; there is not the 
slightest doubt that Germany, well realizing the 
enormous importance of its present positions, 
will do its utmost to prevent the Allies from 
gaining their point. That Germany has not the 
slightest intention of reinstating Belgium as an 
247 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

independent kingdom goes without question; all 
reiterations to the contrary notwithstanding. 

Although Germany has sustained frightful in¬ 
juries through the loss of her colonies, the tem¬ 
porary smashing of her commerce and the rapid 
expenditure of her accumulated wealth, the pos¬ 
session of Belgium is no mean recompense. If 
Germany does not gain anything else in this pres¬ 
ent struggle, the possession of Belgium will well 
repay her for her sacrifices. 

First and last Germany needed additional out¬ 
lets to the North Sea for her ever-growing over¬ 
seas commerce. In the magnificently placed har¬ 
bors of the Belgian seaboard, she has found these 
needed outlets. Strategically, the possession of 
Belgium by Germany means the death knell to 
British Channel supremacy. With the added 
shipping facilities of Antwerp, etc., German com¬ 
merce, although almost completely interrupted at 
present, would in no time regain more than its old 
strength. All this is well understood in the cab¬ 
inets of the Allies. They know that the only 
hope of Belgian independence is in their ability 
to beat Germany out of this territory by force of 
arms. No diplomatic juggling will ever be able 
to attain this end, for what Germany has, she will 
248 
















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ARTES DE MOBILISATION 


320.000“ prolong6, Nord 


— -— ^ 

iiiicrjau < uvrir tv jiaquH. V 

l!m- •»'-ao:ivi‘rt (in iti i i. (1. mill! ISATION 

--- 


Authentic mobilization map issued by the Belgian Government a week before the actual outbreak of hostilities. These maps were issued to the commis¬ 
sionaires of the police and gendarmerie. It must be clearly understood that these orders, dated the twenty-ninth of July, 1914, were secretly circulated, 

a full seven days before the invasion of Belgium by Germany commenced 














































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The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

hold. The only power she will recognize is a 
superiority in shot and shell. 

Years ago the author heard discussions be¬ 
tween leading members of the German General 
Staff foreshadowing events which have been and 
are taking place daily. Even as far back as 
1902 complete plans and estimates as to the prob¬ 
able cost of men and money in the acquisition of 
Belgium were discussed and calmly gone into. 
Every possible combination against Germany, 
even those actually in existence now, was con¬ 
sidered, and Germany’s chances of success care¬ 
fully weighed. These men had sat day by day, 
week by week, month by month, and year by year 
studying and dissecting every possible phase of 
pro and con in this present struggle for Conti¬ 
nental supremacy. They had then and do now 
consider no effort or sacrifice too dear to provide 
Germany with an additional pair of lungs on the 
North Sea. Years ago the taking of Belgium 
under certain circumstances was prepared for and 
the holding of Belgium once taken more so still. 
Germany has made for years concerted efforts 
and tried her utmost to induce Belgium to join the 
German Confederation of States, much in the 
manner and with the same privileges as 

249 


same 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

did the Kingdom of Bavaria previous to the 
Franco-Prussian War. There was a time when 
these German endeavors almost bore fruit, but 
the antagonism and private ambition of the royal 
house of Belgium, judiciously encouraged and 
fostered by England, frustrated the German 
plans. The main instrument in calling check¬ 
mate to German diplomacy in the Lowlands was 
the astute Bohemian, Edward VII. Belgium, 
with the usual wisdom and snappy pugnacity of 
the small dog in fawning to the big mastiff, but 
surreptitiously trying to abstract a few titbits 
from the big one’s food plate, was trying to run 
with both packs of wolves. As usually happens 
in cases of this kind of mental and physical acro¬ 
batics, they result mostly in a broken spine. Bel¬ 
gium has evidently never learned that one pets 
and pities a small dog, but one does not interfere 
with the big dog’s quarrel. But the lamentable 
state of Belgium to-day does not justify the Ger¬ 
man scheme of action. For this cannot be gain¬ 
said: that Germany wanted Belgium, gave her a 
chance to walk into subjection, and that oppor¬ 
tunity being refused, went about the seizure of 
Belgium with systematic ruthlessness. The blot 
is on the escutcheon of Germany and eventually 
250 


The Secrets of the Hohenzollerns 

she will pay in more ways than one for her dis¬ 
regard of treaties and solemn pacts. 

Meantime this does not affect the situation. 
There will be a goodly number of other people 
besides the Belgians whose eyes will be opened 
when the peace pacts of Europe are signed. 
When that time comes, if Germany still holds 
Belgium, England’s own vital interests will be 
so endangered that the independence of Belgium 
in any case interesting to England only by reason 
of her danger of a too close proximity of possible 
German naval stations, will be relegated very 
much to the background. It will be the old, old 
story of each for himself and the devil take the 
hindmost. The Hotel de Ville in Brussels is fly¬ 
ing the German eagle. That eagle is likely to 
horst there for many a day. 


THE END 


251 


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